Ruaidhri Higgins admits Derry City performance at Sligo Rovers was 'not good enough'

Ruaidhri Higgins is hoping his players learn from Saturday night’s defeat at Sligo Rovers, describing the performance as ‘not good enough’.

The Derry City manager’s disappointment seemed to stem from how surprised he was at his team’s poor display, as they fell to their first away defeat of the season in a tame manner at the Showgrounds.

Will Fitzgerald’s fourth minute goal proved enough for Sligo, who came onto the game without scoring a goal in three successive losses. In contrast, the Candystripes were looking for a fifth successive league win, but it never looked likely with half chances the best they could create, even against ten men in the last 20 minutes.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” Higgins said afterwards. “We have been playing really well recently with intensity and intent about our play, but we came off it for whatever reason, and it just shows you that if you come off it for whatever reason in this league then you’ll get beat.

“Their goal came after three minutes I think, but for the first three minutes we didn’t show any composure, we didn’t win a second ball, the crowd got up, they got a cross in too easily, we don’t defend the cross well enough and they get a goal and they get something to hang onto. The first goal in this league in particular is crucial because they had something to hang onto and something to fight for.

With Patrick McEleney and Mark Connolly named as substitutes, the City squad was at its strongest than at any point this season. But for all the attacking talent in the squad, the visitors looked toothless throughout.

“For us to do anything this year, you have to find a way but we didn’t,” Higgins continued. “We didn’t create enough, nowhere near enough with the talent we had on the pitch to go and score goals and when you’re not at you’re best you have to find a way.

“We had a lot of possession, but possession means nothing unless you create. We started the second half with more intent but then there was a stoppage for a couple of minutes and we lost our composure again. To be honest, they could have had one or two more on the break as well.

“It’s a deep learning curve for us. It’s a dig in the ribs and we have to learn from this. We have to make sure that how we started the game in particular never happens again."

City missed out on the opportunity to go four points clear of Shamrock Rovers on Saturday night, but of more concern to Higgins was the manner in which his team were defeated.

“When you don’t play brilliantly, it’s about digging out a win and we went to Drogheda and did that,” he said. “We went to Dalymount and we dug out a win and we showed fight and spirit, we beat Dundalk and UCD comprehensively and we showed all the facets to our game that we want to see. Here, barring a 15–20-minute spell at the start of the second half, the rest of our performance wasn’t good enough. We’ll lick our wounds, we’ll take it on the chin and we have shown the capabilities before to bounce back, and I have no doubt that we’ll do that.”

Tightrope

While it was Sligo who ended the game with ten men following the dismissal of John Mahon, Derry City midfielder Sadou Diallo also came close to a red card following a reckless challenge on Greg Bolger. Higgins eventually substituted the midfielder, having a conversation with him on the touchline when he did so.  

“It’s just game intelligence,” he explained. “He’s experienced enough at this stage. He hasn’t played loads of senior football. But we speak about it all the time; it’s about being smart. If you’re on a yellow, be careful, if you’re not on a yellow, there are good times to make fouls. I wasn’t having a pop at him, I was just speaking to him about not giving the referee a decision to make.”

City have now played five times against teams with ten men this season, but only won twice and Higgins maintains his team should have taken full advantage.

“How can it be harder if you have eleven and they have ten? It’s maths,” he insisted. “We should be creating more, we should be moving the ball side-to-side quicker, looking for gaps to appear, and showing a level of patience as well, and not get too erratic. But we lacked composure in key moments of the game, and fair play to Sligo, they got the three points.”