'From where I was it looked like a pen but unfortunately the ref didn't give it' - states Derry City's Grant Gillespie

However for the fourth time this campaign Vinny Perth's men just did enough to get the win, nevertheless the Scottish midfielder believes Derry now just need to regroup and prepare for their next game at Sligo Rovers in a few weeks time.

"It is probably an opportunity lost. I felt that during the game there was very little in it, if anything at all," he stated.

"They are clinical and that's why they are champions because they get a chance and they take it. After the goal we recovered well and could have got back into the game. There are lots of positives to take.

"There's no game at the weekend so it is time for us to regroup and come back for the Sligo game and for the big push for the last three games.

"There's no reason for us to go into the Sligo game with any fear. It is a massive game but I think we've shown this season that no matter if it's Sligo away or Dundalk at home we're up for a challenge against anybody and if we go into the Sligo game and play the way we know we can play then there's no reason why we can't get the three points."

The 28-year-old was annoyed that his close range strike came back off the post and he also felt that Derry should have been awarded a penalty in the second half, after Brian Gartland looked as though he brought down Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe inside the box, but referee Neil Doyle didn't award the spot-kick.

“That probably just summed up the evening. I felt that I got a good connection on it but it hit the inside of the post and stayed out and on another night that could hit the inside of the post and go in but unfortunately it didn't," he added.

“I think at that time of the game if we had got one back I think we could have gone on to win it.

"We were the team on the front foot, but at the end of the day Dundalk have taken the three points so it's just about us taking the positives from the game which there are a lot of.

"From where I was it looked like a pen but unfortunately the ref didn't give it and sometimes that's the way it goes.

"It's the referee's decision at the end of the day. From where I was and from what Junior is saying, he did get clipped so we felt it should have been a penalty but sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles and we never got it. We'll take it on the chin and we'll take the positives from it."