DERRY CITY boss Ruaidhrí Higgins hailed his side’s character as some of the manager’s selection decisions were vindicated amid a thrilling 3-2 win at Bohemians on Friday night.

The Candystripes looked well in control for a sustained period in the second half with the score at 3-1, before a stunning Dawson Devoy long-range strike late on set up a tense climax.

“All that was going through my head was Georgie Kelly’s goal in the 95th minute last season [for Bohemians against Derry],” Higgins said of the frantic finish.

“But we stood up, the players embraced the challenge, the number of crosses we defended and they deserve a pat on the back tonight, particularly when you take into consideration who we don’t have available here.”

It continued an upturn in fortune for Derry. They had previously earned a 1-0 victory away to UCD to end a seven-game winless run.

“I think people can read a lot into results,” Higgins told reporters. “But when you actually sit back from a football perspective and analyse those games, there were a lot of them we deserved a lot more from, we just didn’t take our chances.

“We’ve scored three goals here tonight but in other games — Drogheda at home, St Pat’s at home where we drew, those two games are just jumping out at me — the game should have been over very early on and we created a lot more chances in those games than we’ve done here.”

Against a Bohs team who now trail the Candystripes by 14 points in the table, Higgins opted for an attacking lineup.

Patrick McEleney and Will Patching anchored the midfield in front of a three-man defence and wing-backs, while Joe Thomson was picked in the more advanced role behind strikers Matty Smith and James Akintunde.

Former Celtic youngster Thomson caught the eye with a deft lob to put his side in front, while McEleney and Patching coped well with their respective duties.

“Rennie [Alan Reynolds, the assistant boss] thought I was mad playing the two of them together,” he said. “But Patrick’s getting there [after coming back from injury]. The games will be great for him. Will’s outstanding. People think because they’re creative footballers they can’t play together — I don’t believe that. Both of them know how to scrap and pick up second balls, so there’s no doubt they can play together.”

Another player to impress was Caoimhin Porter. With Eoin Toal, Cameron Dummigan and Ronan Boyce all out injured, the relatively inexperienced 20-year-old who only made his senior debut last year was selected at right wing-back.

Before going off injured, Porter had a big influence, playing the ball up to Thomson for the opener and putting in a superb cross for Matty Smith’s second, just after Bohs had equalised through Ali Coote.

“I don’t know, we’ll have to wait to see what it is,” Higgins said of the knock that forced the youngster off. “But his cross for the second goal, what a time to get it, straight after them equalising. It’s an outstanding cross and you’ve seen against Drogheda in the first half, he’s put in four or five brilliant crosses and that’s what he’s capable of. There’s loads of room for improvement, in different aspects, but in terms of getting forward and putting crosses in the box, he’s excellent.”

Perhaps with one eye on Thursday’s Europa Conference League first leg at home to Riga of Latvia, Brandon Kavanagh and Jamie McGonigle — two frequent starters — were on the bench on Friday.

“We just wanted to freshen it up and James Akintunde has a brilliant record against Bohemians. Joe Thomson’s running power from midfield, he got the first goal from that run. Brandon and Joe are completely different types of players but we just felt that this was the right one to leave Brandon out and Brandon has been brilliant, a breath of fresh air around the place and has a great future in the game. But we felt for tonight, that it was the right thing for this particular game.

“We treat every game in isolation. We know what way we’re going to go against Riga but I won’t be telling you.”

And Higgins is expecting a difficult test as his men aim to progress to the second qualifying round.

“They’re a good side and very well backed financially. They don’t get massive crowds but they’ve good resources and a lot of good players. If you look at the pedigree of some of their players and the profile and where they’ve been, they have a lot of real talent and we’ll have to be at our very best to get through the tie.”