Derry City fall six points behind Shelbourne after draw with Sligo Rovers

Derry City 2

Sligo Rovers 2

It is now just one win in seven games against Sligo Rovers for Derry City, who were left frustrated against their Northwest rivals yet again. 

It took a late penalty from Will Patching to salvage a draw for the Candystripes, who have now fallen six points behind league leaders Shelbourne, who beat champions Shamrock Rovers 2-0 at Tallaght. 

The home fans booed at half-time as City trailed to Reece Hutchinson's first half goal and, despite Michael Duffy levelling things after the break, Rovers went back in front thanks to Niall Morahan’s neat finish after a terrible goalkeeping error by Brian Maher.

Ruaidhri Higgins made four changes to the team which lost at Rovers earlier in the week but it didn't prevent Sligo from taking the lead in fortunate circumstances on 18 minutes when Reece Hutchinson's cross sailed over City keeper Brian Maher's head and into the net, much to the shock of the goal scorer and virtually everyone in the ground.

The Derry boss made a triple change at the break with McJannet, Dummigan and Patrick McEleney coming on for Ronan Boyce, Todd and Diallo as they looked to get back into the encounter.

The substitutions worked as Derry started the second half with the right tempo and levelled things on 51 minutes as Duffy won possession from John Wilson, before sliding the ball home past McGinty for his fourth goal of the season.

With Derry piling on the pressure in search of a second goal, the visitors were gifted a second goal on 67 minutes as Maher's terrible attempted pass only found Morahan, who ran onto the pass before drilling the ball home from the edge of the box.

City hit back for a second time on 83 minutes as Patrick McEleney's tremendous pass over Hutchinson released McMullan, who was bundled to the ground inside the box. Referee Hennessy pointed to the spot and Patching slotted home the resulting penalty.

Derry thought they had won it in stoppage time as Patching's left wing free-kick from the left found Shane McEleney and his close range header was kept out by McGinty.

Teams 

Derry City: Maher, Boyce (Dummigan 45); S McEleney, Todd (McJannet 45), Doherty (Mullen 74); Diallo (P McEleney 45), O'Reilly, Patching; McMullan, Hoban, Duffy.

Sligo Rovers: McGinty, Wilson, Hutchinson, Chapman, Wiggett, Morahan, Hartmann (Elding 75), Radosavljevic (McDonagh 92), Malley, Barlow, Reynolds (Smit 75).

Referee: Rob Hennessy (Dublin)