Players' character 'never in question' says Derry City boss Ruaidhri Higgins

The Derry City boss was left scratching his head as his team lost control during 50 seconds of ‘madness’ in the second half when Dundalk scored twice to turn the match on its head at 2-1.

Robbie Benson's deft header from Keith Ward's in-swinging free-kick on 71 minutes cancelled out Ben Doherty's terrific left footed strike which had earlier given Derry a richly deserved interval lead.

Dundalk's second goal, scored immediately from the restart, was particularly galling for Higgins as Johannes Yli-Kokko nicked the ball off Sadou Diallo and raced through to slot home.

Higgins felt his players could easily have 'rolled over' after that setback and was delighted with their reaction as Cian Kavanagh headed home the equaliser eight minutes later - an effort the City boss described as 'world class'.

With question marks about Derry's title credentials arising from two straight home defeats to Drogheda and Bohemians from certain quarters, Higgins was in no mood to entertain talk of a crisis.

"Aye, the losing run!" he answered abruptly when asked if he was glad to end that two match losing streak. "We had four bad days and we're on this big losing run.

"We've come here and it was very evident that these boys' characters shouldn't be in question. We fought right until the end and over the piece we were the better team and probably deserved to win it.

"Right up until that point (71st minute) they didn't have one effort," said Higgins. "Brian (Maher) didn't have a save to make. They're good on setplays, Keith Ward's delivery, Robbie Benson's header. It was then a moment of madness from our end and it gifted them a second goal. They didn't have a chance in the game up until those 60 seconds and they scored two goals which is incredible.

"Because we lost a couple they (Derry players) could've laid down and maybe rolled over but we showed character like we always do and Cian Kavanagh has produced a world class header. It's an amazing header and he's got that quality.

"We looked like we could go on and win it after that and over the course of the game I think we were the better team. I think for the majority of the game we were the team in control. The two goals came completely out of the blue. Before the goal goes in they haven't had a chance in the game.

"And then we gift them their second goal and left ourselves a bit of an uphill task. But as this group always does, we showed character. We hit the bar and had chances and I felt we had control of the game for a large majority of it and deserved three points. But when you're 2-1 down late in the game, you'll take a point I suppose."