‘League table is not a true reflection’ - Derry manager Tiernan Lynch

Tiernan Lynch believes that the current league table is an unfair reflection of Derry City’s season so far.

Friday’s draw with Galway United at the Brandywell means that it is now just one win in five this season, with Shamrock Rovers’ win over St. Patrick’s Athletic seeing the Candystripes slip to the bottom of the Premier Division for the first time in four years.

“It’s definitely not (a true reflection) and that’s probably the most frustrating part,” he said. “If you deserve to be there you take that on the chin, but I definitely don’t think we deserve to be there.

“Probably the one game where we let ourselves down and let the fans down was Shelbourne in the first game of the season. I thought we were very dominant against Waterford, and on Monday night (at St. Pat’s), until the decisions went against us, I thought we were well in that game. I thought we were very good against Bohs, so I haven’t seen too many bad performances. I have seen bad incidents in the games, which has led to the situation we have found ourselves in, but we just have to keep working and tidy those up.”

Friday night was another missed opportunity for Lynch and his players, who dominated the first half against Galway, only to go in a goal down due to Moses Dyer’s goal. Michael Duffy equalised from the penalty spot early in the second half, but the home side were unable to find a winner in the time that remained.

“I have mixed emotions to be honest,” Lync reflected afterwards. “I thought the effort and commitment from the group was superb. I thought it was a very dominant performance, but the big thing that was missing were the goals. The downside of that was the goal that we conceded just before half-time. It’s hugely frustrating because we had worked on it, we had looked at it, but we just didn’t deal with it.

“The players were flat at half-time, because they did come after being so dominant, and to concede a stupid goal but again, great credit to them, they picked themselves up. I thought they were very dogged; they rolled their sleeves up and we just have to keep going and keep believing that somewhere along the line this has to drop.”

In five league games, City have only been in the lead once, and Lynch admits that psychologically, that can play a big part for his players.

“It’s not easy,” he acknowledged. “It’s a league where anybody can beat anybody. Definitely momentum is something that can play a big part. Winning can be contagious and I think that’s something that we need to start doing, we need to get on a run and build a little bit of momentum and build a little bit of confidence, whether that’s scoring first and holding onto it or whatever that may be. I’m lost for words a little bit because I definitely and wholeheartedly think that this is just a matter of times before it turns.”

IN PICTURES: Faces in the Crowd as Derry City draw with Galway United

City have forthcoming games away at Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers either side of the international break and Lynch is confident that the improvement will start to have an impact on results and points.

“It’s probably very frustrating for the fans and I feel for them,” he stated. “I also feel for the players, because I watch them every day and I can see that they’re putting in the effort and we just have to keep sticking together and plugging away and hopefully, sooner rather than later, we’ll get our rewards.”

“A lot of the things that we’re doing off the pitch and in training, we are starting to see signs on. There are things that we definitely, definitely need to get better at, and in that final third, we have a lot of work to do. But since I’ve been here, there haven’t been to many that have shied away from any work or from things that we need to go and face head on.

“I feel for the supporters because this club needs to win football games, we all know that, and that’s our job. We just have to work even harder and as far as we’re concerned, there’s no substitute for that.”