'Our home form isn't good enough, but the penalty decision is unacceptable'

Ruaidhri Higgins insists that referee Neil Doyle was wrong to award Bohemians a penalty in this evening’s game at the Brandywell.

The official pointed to the spot when Ollie O’Neill and Ben Doherty challenged Kris Twardek, and Dean Williams scored the resultant spot-kick to send the Candystripes to a second successive defeat.

“It’s certainly a game we didn’t deserve to lose without doubt,” Higgin said afterwards. “I don’t think Brian Maher has had a save to make in the game. The penalty is just not a penalty. I’m normally quite fair to referees when I speak, but that’s not a penalty. If anything the one before that on Ben Doherty is a penalty.

“If you look at the last four home games; against Dundalk one of their players blatantly should have been sent off for cynical fouling, against Sligo we had a goal disallowed that shouldn’t have been disallowed, and against Drogheda they evened it up by giving Cameron McJannet a second yellow that shouldn’t have been a second yellow, and now Bohs have got a penalty tonight that shouldn’t have been a penalty.

“Don’t get me wrong; our home form hasn’t been good enough, but that’s unacceptable tonight. That penalty shouldn’t have been a penalty and those types of decisions are costing us too much at the minute. Don’t get me wrong, we should be doing better, at home in particular, but you can’t deny the fact that it’s hurting us at the minute.”

Higgins believes that his team deserved something from the game regardless.  

“We still had enough chances to not lose the game,” he stated. “The game was nip and tuck, then they get a penalty out of the blue and you then have to go an force the issue and they are hanging on. Naturally they are going to defend their box and naturally we are going to put crosses into the box and we had three or four good chances towards the end. We certainly didn’t deserve to lose the game.”

The Derry City manager does believe however that there is no need to panic still so early into the league campaign.

“Every team has a wee period in the season when it’s not free-flowing and it’s not going according to plan,” he said. “When it’s not going to plan, you have to try and get some sort of result out of the game. It wasn’t to be tonight, but on Friday, I probably questioned the players’ drive and passion to go and win the game, but I can’t do that tonight because I thought we competed really well. I thought we showed an urgency and a drive, particularly in the second half, and that can’t be questioned. I’m just really, really disappointed at the decision to give them a penalty and then, as the away side, it gives them something to hang onto.”