Ruthless streak still lacking at United Pk
Drogheda Utd 0 Derry City 0
BACK-TO-BACK scoreless draws at home have hardly set the pulses racing among supporters, but nevertheless they warmly applauded the Drogheda team’s efforts after this fully deserved point against Derry on Friday night.
In performance terms, this was another step up from the display three nights earlier, when Bray were the visitors to United Park, but once again manager Pete Mahon was left cursing his team’s failure to convert clear-cut scoring chances.
There have now been four successive draws at the Windmill Road venue and the way each of those games panned out the Boynesiders could easily have won each of them and now be sitting in the top four.
Warm sunshine greeted the Derry team bus as it arrived and Kenny Shiels’ outfit were looking to extend their unbeaten run to nine games.
After 15 minutes of play it seemed that the Candystripes might be on their way to three points as events conspired against Drogheda.
Sean Thornton and Gavin Brennan were only deemed fit enough for the bench after recovering from illness, while Killian Brennan and Richie Purdy were ruled out through injury, and then Colm Deasy was withdrawn following the warm-up.
More worryingly, goalkeeper Stephen McGuinness suffered a heavy fall after leaping to catch a Nicky Low corner kick in the 11th minute, and after being tended to by medics for some considerable time he was carefully taken from the pitch on a stretcher.
Drogheda had created the best scoring opportunity before that when Adam Wixted blocked an Aaron Barry clearance and bore down on goal before teeing up Sean Brennan who sliced horribly wide with his left foot.
Ryan Coulter came on in place of McGuinness to make his Drogheda league debut, and he could hardly have anticipated a more straightforward introduction as Derry struggled to find a way through a well-drilled home defence in the remainder of the first half.
The Boynesiders enjoyed a good spell either side of the halfhour mark as Jake Hyland had a shot blocked and centre-half Luke Gallagher had three goal attempts, one of which led to a corner kick.
Then on 39 minutes Wixted swung a great ball towards the back post and Thomas Byrne just failed to get a decisive touch at full stretch.
Drogheda were mixing the good and the bad at this stage, though, with the ball being given away carelessly on a number of occasions, especially in midfield.
Kevin Farragher went into the book for bringing down Derry’s Mikhail Kennedy in full flight, right on the edge of the box, and late in the half Coulter was called into action, first making a good stop from Ronan Curtis’ cross-shot, before saving easily from a Barry McNamee strike.
When the second half got under way, though, it was Drogheda who regained control, and within the first 10 minutes Marc Griffin could have helped himself to a hat-trick.
The former Dundalk and Derry striker curled a disappointing 25yard free kick well over the bar from Drogheda’s first attack, but the home supporters really began to get behind their team when youngsters Byrne and Conor Kane each won possession in quick succession with crunching tackles.
On 57 minutes Sean Brennan teed up Griffin who touched the ball past his marker to open up a shooting chance, only for Derry centre-half Conor McDermott to make a vital block in the six-yard area.
Barely 60 seconds later Griffin was put through by Sean Brennan again, but with Hyland up in support and poised for a tap-in, Griffin opted to shoot himself and this time keeper Ger Doherty foiled the number 7.
Derry came to life then and Lukas Schubert teed up Low whose 18-yard shot was bravely blocked by Ryan McEvoy, but it was the introduction of subs Nathan Boyle and Josh Daniels which really made a difference to the Candystripes.
Suddenly the game began to open up and Kennedy dribbled round the outside of two defenders before unleashing a powerful shot that was nonchalantly fisted
over the bar by Coulter, showing good anticipation.
Then it was Byrne’s turn to throw himself in the way of a shot, denying McNamee on that occasion, while Drogheda also had to defend three corner kicks in quick succession.
Boyle was particularly lively on the right flank and he accelerated past Kane on one occasion to bear down on goal, only for the Under-19 international to race back and make a brilliantly timed tackle in the six-yard area.
Kane then popped up at the other end with an excellent cross and the late-arriving Wixted got a touch but only sent the ball into the arms of Doherty.
On 87 minutes Hyland, looking much more like his old self, made a typical lung-bursting run into the box and hit a fierce shot which Doherty did well to bat away.
Neither side were happy to settle for a point and it was the Candystripes who had the last two chances of the game. There were hearts in mouths in the Drogheda dugout when Derry right-back Harry Monaghan’s shot took a big deflection off Hyland before bouncing well wide, and in stoppage time Derry sub Rory Holden couldn’t keep his header on target as Hyland did just enough to put him off.
Derry will argue that they were full value for their point on the number of chances created, but the better opportunities fell to Drogheda and their lack of attacking potency is emerging as the biggest threat to their Premier Division survival prospects. •An emotive minute’s silence was impeccably observed before kickoff in memory of the 22 people who died in the Manchester bomb attack last week.