James Akintunde ready for Derry City's 'massive' clash with Sligo Rovers

The striker’s sublime second minute strike had set Derry on course for a precious first league win since August 21st as they held that slender lead until the 92nd minute when disaster struck.

The Candy Stripes were by far the better team on the night with Akintunde, Walter Figueira and Adam Hammill providing a real attacking threat which was lacking in recent weeks.

It was a notable improvement from their previous two draws against Finn Harps and St Pats as Declan Devine’s focus on rediscovering his side’s attacking flair had reaped its rewards.

Eoin Toal’s header from a corner kick in the second half looked suspiciously over the line before Ross Tierney cleared but it wasn’t given.

That would surely have sealed a much needed win for Derry and moved them into fifth ahead of two winnable games against Sligo Rovers and Waterford.

And yet it was the team’s old defensive frailties which proved their undoing at Dalymount. Poor decision-making in the dying minutes of the game handed Bohemians a lifeline and Keith Long’s men grasped it with both hands.

Bohs substitute Ross Tierney fell over the trailing leg of Jake Dunwoody just inside the Derry penalty area and card-happy Ben Connolly didn’t hesitate when pointing to the spot.

City old boy Keith Ward stepped up to emphatically tuck away the spotkick on 93 minutes as Derry heads dropped.

Andre Wright bought a free-kick from Hammill wide on the right side 60 seconds later.

Anton Breslin floated it into the packed penalty area and when Derry failed to clear, Wright pounced to prod the ball home for the winner with 95 minutes on the clock.

It was heartbreaking for the visitors as no one in the stadium could have foreseen such a turnaround in fortunes for Bohemians.

It was the Dubliners’ first victory over Derry City at the Phibsborough venue since July 2015 which leaves Long’s troops well poised in second spot.

As for Derry they are now perilously close to the relegation playoff spot - just three points ahead of Finn Harps with a game in hand.

Fortunately the Foylesiders don’t have long to wait to make amends as they travel to Sligo Rovers on Tuesday night and Akintunde stressed the importance of getting the win after the ‘hurt’ of Friday night’s result.

“I thought the boys put in 100 per cent and we were quite comfortable for most of the game, said the striker. “In the dying moments of the game they got a penalty and things went a bit wrong.

“The boys are gutted and right now we’re beating ourselves up but we’ve got a game on Tuesday and then Friday so we’ve just got to make sure we get the points from those.

“We’ve come a long way here to Dublin and to be winning 1-0 for such a long time and then not get the win is hurtful. We’re hurting right now.”

Akintunde was preferred to Ibrahim Meite to lead the line against Bohs and he didn’t disappoint.

After a quickfire start the impressive Figueira played a beautifully time throughball into the path of the former Maidenhead United man and he defly lifted his shot over the head of the advancing James Talbot and it struck the underside of the bar before nestling into the net.

That strike was Derry’s first in the league since the 3-1 win over Cork at Brandywell on August 21st

It was Akintunde’s third goal of the season and he’s hoping it was enough to warrant a starting berth against the Bit O’Red where he will come up against his good friend, ex-Derry City striker, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe.

“Walter slipped me through one-on-one with the keeper and I always back myself to put it in the back of the net,” he recalled.

“Bohemians are second in the league and to be playing them away from home it was always going to be a tough game but the boys came here and worked hard.

“Unfortunately we leave empty handed but we will go again.Tuesday’s game is massive. Every game from now until the end of the season is massive and we need to pick up points.

“Hopefully we can get the heads up and go again on Tuesday and put in a decent performance and get the result.

“Hopefully on Tuesday we can create more chances and enough to get the win.”

Derry boss, Declan Devine was also eager to turn his attentions to tonight’s crunch clash with Sligo and he was grateful that the match came around so quickly after Friday’s devastating loss.

“You can’t afford to dwell on this,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we get ourselves ready for Tuesday because it hurts. It really hurts but thankfully there are a lot of games to be played and we’ve two more this week.”