WITH THE GAME done and interviews sorted, Bohemians manager Alan Reynolds was among the Derry City staff.
The club that he had two spells as assistant manager is one that he has a soft spot for. He has enjoyed his time spent with Derry manager Ruaidhrí Higgins, but he was here to do a job all the same.
On his way out, he left his parting comment.
“I hope you go on to win it. I hope I don’t bollix it up for yous.”
Quite.
Come 1 November, we will see.
“We wanted to win the game. We felt we had some gilt-edged opportunities,” said Higgins afterwards.
The Limavady man took an age to speak to reporters afterwards. Frustration must have been eating at him. By winning the two games in hand on Friday and Monday, it would have put Derry in the box seat for the final charge of the title race.
Instead, the pressure to take all three points on Monday night with Sligo Rovers in town becomes a mammoth task.
“We had all the momentum in the game and all the opportunities. Sometimes that happens in football but I spoke to the players in there, not to be too downbeat,” said Higgins of a one-sided but ultimately level game of football.
“It’s different when it’s a performance where we didn’t leave everything out there. But we did, we left everything on the pitch but we didn’t take our opportunities. And we now have a quick turnaround to Monday and the chance to go top of the table.
“We need a big vocal support behind us to see if we can go top of the league on Monday.”
They will need the support, but the support could also do with seeing a lot more in return. Derry have now only managed to score in the first half in six of the last 32 games. The effect it is having on the team and crowd hangs like a pallor.
“Of course, we want to win. If we win, we will go top of the table,” ads Higgins.
“If we don’t win, are we out of it? Nah.
“But all our intentions will be on winning the game. If we can play as well as we did for large parts tonight, we give ourselves a good chance.”
Maybe it was the fixtures computer that done them here. Beating Bohs in the recent FAI Cup semi-final meant their professional pride was hurt. But they came to Derry and apart from a purple patch in the second quarter, were hanging on.
By the end, it was all hands on pump, bailing water. They survived.
Derry will count the cost too. Will Patching took some questioning on the Radio Foyle commentary from club legend Liam Coyle on his fitness after coming back from a knock that kept him out for two games.
Ben Doherty seemed to do significant damage to his hamstring chasing a pass in the second half.
Needless to say, the City team and management will not be doing too much physical work ahead of Monday night’s game. Win it, and go top of the league.
Higgins spoke to his players and got their chins off the dressing room floor. It’s his job to have Mr. Motivator levels of upbeat chirpiness. He insists, that there is no white-line fever creeping in.
“Listen, it’s natural in football. Bar a fifteen-twenty minute period in the game, I didn’t see an edginess about us. I didn’t see any panic to us,” he said.
“It felt that when Bohs got a foothold in the game, that we didn’t adjust in the way we should have and in that period we got punished. And it was a tough one to take because we started the game so well.
“But we didn’t show any of that in the second half. We played on the front foot and we created chance after chance. With a bit of luck we could have been leaving with three points.”
All talk of winning titles has been banned within the group.
“We are in the a world now where any Tom, Dick or Harry can fire out something and it grows legs,” said Higgins.
“It’s important not to get caught up in that. It’s important that we know what we are doing, we have good players, we have good players.
“We trust what we are doing and hopefully it is good enough come the end of the season. We cannot think like that, we have to think of the next game and what we can do to win it. That’s all that is in my mind at this minute in time.”
Asked before he left about the Bohemians squad and their improved performance tonight, Reynolds explained, “It’s a tight-knit group. It’s been a strange season, they have not been great but the dressing room is really tight and really good.
“I said that to them, you would expect that dressing room to not be as tight as they are, but it is a good sign and it shows the character we have.
“But we have a lot of draws and we need to turn them into wins.”
Onwards to Monday.
