There was no hiding behind statistics or excuses for Kenny Shiels at the weekend who accused his players of letting the fans down with an insipid display in Drogheda.

The 0-0 draw at United Park was significantly contrasting to the scoreless draw at Oriel Park just three days earlier, as City struggled to lift themselves against a team struggling against relegation.

The lifeless display from the City players resulted in just one meaningful shot on target in 102 minutes of football, and Shiels pulled no punches when reflecting on the performance afterwards.

“I thought the performance lacked passion and I wasn’t happy,” he said. “Drogheda fully deserved their point if not more and I’m not happy with the players. I’m not happy. It’s not often that I have to say that, but I’m not happy.

“Performances and commitment levels were down; the speed of our play was down, all of those things. We have to give Drogheda credit for that because they shut the spaces so quickly, so it’s not just about how we performed; sometimes our performance is nullified by the opponent so we have to give Drogheda some credit for that. I was disappointed, and I still am very disappointed.”

It is now nine games unbeaten for Derry, but with Shamrock Rovers and Limerick both losing, and Bray Wanderers held by Sligo Rovers, it was undoubtedly an opportunity missed by Derry in Drogheda.

“You can talk stupid statistics about nine games not losing, but seven of them are draws,” Kenny fumed. “We can’t paper over the cracks; we need to get Rory Patterson back and quickly because you can see that we are ineffective at times during games, and you can’t be like that.

“You’ve got to have attacking methodology where’s you’re attacking them and turning them, and we’re not turning teams at all. I thought the two substitutes came on and helped us and stretched them a little bit but the game was like ping pong at times because they were hurting us  then, but my two centre-halves were very good.

The back four was fine, the goalkeeper was fine but the front six, we need more passion in their play, there has to be more energy and drive and all of the things that we have. If you look at the Shamrock Rovers game and the Dundalk game, you just can’t lose that and we’ll be addressing that in preparation for Galway. It’s not good enough, simply, it’s not good enough.”

Surprising

The nature of the performance was particularly surprising given how well the team played in recent games against Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk. The noises from the camp in midweek were of giving Drogheda all due respect despite their troubles, but disappointingly for Shiels, the players never rose to the occasion for the third time in eight days.

“I think we’re scraping the barrel and looking for excuses,” he continued. “I think the players have to take it on the chin that they were the ones who let the club down tonight. Sometimes you have to say these things but that’s exactly how I feel, and that’s what I’m saying – I think the players let us all down tonight. We have worked so hard on the preparation; we do everything we can that we make sure when we go into games everyone knows their jobs and what they should be doing and where they should be. It lacked conviction, I’m sorry.”

As well as the lack of a goal scorer, Shiels bemoaned the lack of a leader on the pitch, the type of player, he described, who can really take a game by the scruff of its neck.

“We can’t put excuses away and start a blame culture,” he said. “We did not perform. I don’t mind a poor performance with someone giving the ball away and they score. I mean conviction, drive, the commitment levels, the energy sources. I thought we were flat and that’s the only way I can say it.

“We have had a tough old season, so when we meet a challenge when we’re flat, I’m looking for someone out on the pitch to start lifting the other players, and obviously we haven’t those players, there’s a lack of leadership. We need someone to lift them and say ‘Hey, come on, we have to turn this from flat to high performance and high intensity.”

As frustrated as Shiels was after the game, it could well have been worse for his team, who had Conor McDermott and Gerard Doherty to thanks for denying Mark Griffin, who wasted two excellent opportunities for the hosts.

“Their goalkeeper had to make saves to be fair but it could have been worse,” Shiels acknowledged. “I’m so disappointed for the small crowd that came down and I’m really, really scratching my head to see where I can dig out a result and get the supporters on a happy journey. We know we’re not far away. I said to the players there’s seven words I want them to take with them. They are ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’, but tonight there was no will’.”

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