Derry City's Will Patching delighted with Gus Poyet-like ‘Finnish’ against KuPS

​Given his height and physical presence, the Englishman admittedly should be more effective in the opposition penalty box.

And he displayed impressive movement and awareness when getting onto the end of Paul McMullan's inviting cross and powering it clinically past Austrian 'keeper Johannes Kreidl for a 69th minute equaliser.

"Will's definitely back!" declared the Derry manager afterwards. "He's playing really good stuff again. His pressing and intensity out of possession was even more impressive."

And dead-ball specialist Patching was delighted to score yet another hugely important goal in front of a packed Brandywell.

He's returned from a troublesome knee injury and is producing his best form of the season, getting on the scoring act with a stoppage time penalty winner against Sligo Rovers and another from the spot in the FAI Cup win over Athlone Town.

However, it was an 'unusual feeling' to watch the ball hit the back of the net with a headed effort after he found space inside the penalty box.

"I've never been good at heading," said the former Man City youth. "I actually meant to go to the other corner," he said.

"Naw I'm only joking," he laughed. "When it hit the back of the net it was an unusual feeling scoring a header I think that's the first one I ever scored.

"I told myself before the game to try and get into the box and try and make a few things happen inside the box. I had another chance a few minutes afterwards when it dropped to me and I just didn't catch it.

"Going forward and getting into the box more and scoring more tap-ins or little headers like that is something I can work on."

The 2-1 first leg victory was up there with some of his best nights playing for Derry on Foyleside.

"I would say so, it's up there," he said. "I would say that and maybe Rovers at home when we won 2-1 when Jamie (McGonigle) scored but it was some buzz. The fans helped us out massively and it was a great feeling."It was unbelievable . . special! Nights like this in Europe at the Brandywell when you get a winner is special. It was some buzz."

The second half performance in particular will give the Derry players confidence they can compete with and beat this level of opposition in European competition and Patching expects to take up where they left off when the first whistle goes in Kuopio on Thursday night.

"To win 2-1 is great but we could've maybe had one or two more. They're a top team. They moved the ball well. We just stuck to our plan. Going a goal down and coming back to win 2-1 is massive.

"Usually when you concede at half-time it's not great but we had a good talk in the changing room at half-time. The gaffer got into us and in the second half we came out hungry and it paid off.

"Paul (McMullan) impacted the game unbelievably when he came on. I thought he was great, direct, getting down the line and putting crosses in which led to my goal and Cian (Kavanagh) was a threat as well.

"He could've had two or three goals when he came on. He's such a physical presence in the box. He was great for us.

"I think it shows everyone we can compete with big teams like this. It was a great game for us.

"We know it's going to be a tough game out there but we've got to stick to what we do and hopefully we get another win.

"We know the quality we've got in that dressing room. We've got some top, top players and whoever we play against, especially when we play here at Brandywell, we know we're capable of beating very good teams like we did tonight."