Ruaidhri Higgins labels Derry City's defeat to 10 man Sligo 'not good enough'

The Candy Stripes still lead the way at the top of the table by a single point but wasted an opportunity to stretch their advantage to four points on second placed Shamrock Rovers.

Will Fitzgerald's fourth minute goal proved decisive as Derry lacked the creativity and spark in the final third to break down a stubborn Sligo who found themselves playing with a man less for the final 15 minutes when John Mahon was shown a second yellow card.

Having netted seven goals in their previous two fixtures, it was particularly frustrating for Higgins who had pressed home to his players the need to start the game on the front-foot prior to kick-off.

"I'm extremely disappointed," said the Derry boss who blasted his side for failing to do the basics. "We've been playing really well recently with an intensity and intent about our play and we came off it for whatever reason.

"And it just shows you if you drop your levels at all in this league then you get beat. We harp on about it all the day about maintaining standards and you get punished when you don't.

"Their goal came after three minutes but we didn't show any composure, didn't win a second ball and the crowd got up. We didn't defend the cross well enough and they got a goal and something to hold onto.

"They got something to hang onto because we didn't start the game well. The first goal in this league in particular is crucial. They got something to fight for and we didn't create anywhere near enough with the talent we had on the pitch to go and score goals.

"When you're not at your best or not playing well you still have to find a way. For us to do anything this year or compete to win things then when we don't play well we need to find a way to get a result and we didn't do that tonight. I thought we had a lot of possession but possession means nothing unless you create stuff.

"We got into the final third enough times to go and make things happen but when we got into the final third we lacked quality. We started the second half with more intent and better and on the front foot more, all the basics of the game we did better and there's a stoppage in play for a couple of minutes and we lost our composure and they got a stranglehold on the game again.

"To be honest they could've had one or two more on the break as well."It's a steep learning curve for us. It's a dig in the ribs and we have to learn from this. We have to make sure how we started the game in particular never ever happens again."

The way his team started the game was particularly galling for the City boss considering how much emphasis he had put into racing out of the traps.

"We spoke yesterday about the run Sligo are on and the importance, because of that run that we started really well and put their crowd on edge. We spoke about it today, we spoke about it just before the game and we didn't do that obviously. So when you don't start games well and they got an early goal which is poor from our end. They get something to hang on to and fair play to them but it's not good enough from us."

Missing out on the chance to extend their lead wasn't the most disappointing factor for Higgins, it was the lack of composure, fighting spirit and creativity.

"Honestly, it's just the manner (of the defeat). We went to Drogheda and dug out a win. When you don't play brilliantly can you dig out a win? We did it. We went to Dalymount and dug out a win and showed fighting spirit.

"We beat Dundalk comprehensively, we beat UCD comprehensively and we showed all the facets to our game that we want to see here but tonight maybe for, bar a 15 or 20 minute spell at the start of the second half, the rest of the performance wasn't good enough.

"We'll lick our wounds. We'll take it on the chin and we've shown the capability to bounce back and I've no doubt we'll do that. You feel we're building momentum, we've put in some good performances recently and unless you fight, unless you do the basics, unless you land on second balls, unless you compete and show composure in key moments then you don't deserve to win football matches and ultimately, particularly early in the game we lacked that.

"We grew into the game and got in decent areas but lacked quality. At the start of the second half Cian Kavanagh has a great chance with the header and a couple of other half chances but we have to accept it that we didn't do enough to get a result.

"We pick ourselves up and all you can do is fight back. When you take a punch you throw one back so hopefully we come in on Monday morning with the right mentality, the right attitude and prepare for an extremely difficult game against Shelbourne. We all know how tough they are to beat so we'll have to be right at it and come with a real energy and enthusiasm to win the game. "