'I feel sorry for the people who paid money to watch that' - Declan Devine 'disgusted' with Derry City display

The City manager pulled no punches after his side slumped to its third defeat in five games and claimed he felt sorry for those Derry City fans who were watching on the live streaming platform, WatchLOI.

"Let's be honest I'm glad the place wasn't packed tonight to witness that. I'm delighted the stadium is empty and I feel sorry for the people who paid money to watch that tonight because in my opinion that's not acceptable.

"If we had performed like that with a full house tonight the crowd would've deservedly been on our backs and that would've been completely acceptable from my point of view.

"We had no penetration to our play, no tempo and we've given away two soft goals so all in all I'm probably delighted the stadium wasn't packed tonight."

A powerful Kyle McFadden header from a corner kick in the first half and a Ronan Coughlan penalty Derry could have no argument with at the start of the second half proved enough for Sligo to get their first win of the 2020 campaign.

They moved to within a point of the Candy Stripes who have picked up just four points from five games ahead of Monday's trip to St Patrick's Athletic and next Sunday's visit of leaders, Shamrock Rovers.

Devine admits he's 'concerned' about Friday night's performance, particularly the soft goals his side gave away and their lack of intensity.

"It was a very poor night," he admitted. "We never performed at all. We gave away two very, very poor goals. One from a set-piece which we spoke about and then there's absolutely no need to make the tackle for the penalty.

"Listen, apart from the goals, the performance just wasn't enough. We were very poor with the ball, very poor without the ball, Sligo intimidated us with their work ethic which was quite concerning for me because the one thing we've always said he was very important was that we match the aggression and appetite to work hard at this club as we always had.

"We have to take a good look at ourselves, That's not acceptable. It's three defeats out of five and I have to have a good look at it as well as I;m picking these players and so far this season they haven't really lit it up.

"I think if you analysed the goals we've given away since the start of the season; we gave away a poor set-piece down in Dundalk in the 88th minute. We've given away a horrendous goal here against Finn Harps. We've given away two goals from 35 yards where we didn't press them down hard enough. And tonight we've given them two goals.

"So the goals we've given away have been a major concern but the other side of that too is we didn't create anything tonight.

"I thought the two kids who came on, Jack Malone and Patrick Ferry are the two shining lights in the team tonight. I think they were the only two who came out with a bit of credit.

"Sligo were worthy winners and we need to break it down and see what went wrong."

Devine's team selection was thrown into disarray at the final hour as the FAI threatened disciplinary action on any team found breaching the Safer Return to Football protocols and insisted all clubs must adhere to health advice from the Irish government.

Despite the game taking place in the north where there are no quarantine measures in place for those coming from the UK, Devine was unable to field four of his five new signings on the night.

"It was a bit of a surprise they had to quarantine in the first place. They're almost finished their quarantine days but anybody we brought in was from the UK into Northern Ireland so it is what it is.

"We're all really disgusted with ourselves today because that performance is unacceptable. Ultimately the performance was well below par and we have to dust ourselves down and get ready for Monday."

Will Ibrahim Meite, Adam Hammill, Jake Dunwoody and James Akintunde be available for selection against St Pat's at Inchicore?

"I'm hoping they are available for Monday, I'm waiting for clarification," said Devine. "The guys have been in the city and have quarantined. So hopefully we will have a few changes for Monday with a couple of the boys coming in. That's the one plus about it. We've got four or five boys who can come in and enhance the team.

"Hopefully we have the other players available and show a bit more character and appetite."