Tiernan Lynch denies discipline problem as Derry City hit 'self destruct button'

The former Hearts man had deservedly put the Candy Stripes in front after 61 minutes with his close range header but whether or not it was a rush of blood to the head after his long-awaited first Derry goal, he inexplicably clipped the heels of Drogheda matchwinner Conor Keeley two minutes later to earn a second yellow card.

The sending off completely flipped the game on its head as Derry unravelled and Keeley netted twice inside three minutes before Warren Davis put the gloss on a win which looked unlikely at best with an hour on the clock.

"It's very hard to put this into words to be honest with you," lamented Lynch. "I thought for 60 minutes we were superb. You really started seeing things we've been working really hard on.

"I thought we were very dominant and creating chances against a Drogheda side that don't concede any goals or many chances.

"We were delighted to go 1-0 up and thought we got the rewards for our hard work and the football we were playing. The sending off . . . we hit the self-destruct button and the goals we conceded were just poor."

Poor indeed. Particularly the last two goals where the Derry defence had ample time to clear their lines. It's now four defeats for Derry after nine games but Lynch reckons this was the 'hardest one yet'.

"This has been the hardest one yet. If you go into the game and a team's much better than you and they play you off the park and out-run you or out fight you, then you take that.

"Up until the sending off I felt it was probably our best performance. I thought we moved the ball well and had a great shape about us. I thought we nullified them to very little and the sending off kind of changed everything for us.

"I feel we hit the self-destruct button and lost our confidence, didn't deal with things and didn't do our jobs in second phases of set pieces which they've been working so hard on and doing so well. So I can't put my finger on it unfortunately.

"It was the manner in which we conceded the goals. That's the disappointing part because we've been very solid the last number of weeks in not conceding goals and defending our own box really well.

"We’ve been defending as a unit really well and I don't know if it was a psychological thing being down to 10 men but we just didn't do our jobs.

"That's not something we'll shy away from or sweep under the carpet. We talked about it as a group and we'll be in Monday morning dissecting those and learning from those and we'll move on.

"We win together and lose together. There'll be no finger-pointing. Those goals and the manner in which we conceded just wasn't good enough and are not acceptable at our standards. It's our job to put that right."

It's the fourth red card Derry has been issued since the start of the season if you include Lynch's own dismissal in the match against Bohemians at Brandywell.

From nine games they've picked up almost 30 bookings so does the City boss think his team have disciplinary issues or have been dealt a bad hand by the officials?

"I don't see that the players have lost their temper or it's been bad red cards. In fact two out of the three red cards I thought were wrong.

"I don't think you could point to any of those [yellow cards] to say one was a bad tackle or a reckless tackle or dissent.

"You look at the red cards - Carl Winchester at St Pat's was never a sending off so that certainly wasn't an issue of ill discipline.

"Danny Mullen at Shamrock Rovers again was never a second yellow card. He gave the ball away and worked his backside off to try and get in and win the ball back. So I certainly don’t think that was any ill-discipline.

"Boycie's tonight. Truth be told I actually didn't see what happened. I was getting a sub ready so I can't comment on that."

Boyce apologised to his teammates in the dressing room after the game for his 'naive' tackle which changed the outcome of the game.

In terms of the accumulation of yellow cards, Lynch doesn't thing his team need to re-evaluate their approach to games.

"I think we want to be a team that wants to play on the front foot. We want to press and get after teams. What goes with that is you're going to mistime tackles and make challengers and a lot of those yellow cards I'm not sure were yellow cards. I'm sure some were yellow cards.

"There's nothing malicious in any of the tackles or yellow cards. If I was sitting here saying it was for dissent or for stupid tackles it was naivety. Boycie's challenge was naive and it was a stupid yellow card. He's put his hand up and admitted that.

"It's disappointing but I can't go out before a game and tell boys they have to be very careful the way they tackle and make sure they don't get any more yellow cards.

"I think the crowd would be more disappointed. You see the commitment in that team and the work ethic they have and commitment they're showing has been superb. Tonight will be very disappointing for everyone and there's a lot of frustration because you'll look at the last 30 instead of the first 60 and I get that. That’s what happens in football.”