FAI Cup holders, Derry City, were frustrated at the Brandywell yesterday as underdogs, St James's Gate, held out to take the Northern side to a replay.
The trip to Dublin will not be relished by Felix Healy's side, who showed a distinct lack of inventiveness yesterday after having enjoyed the lion's share of possession.
St James's Gate manager, Pat Byrne, got his tactics right on the day. Flooding midfield, the visitors thwarted Derry's forward forays and, in doing so, forced them to cross the balls from deep, which were easy meat for the three St James's Gate central defenders, who won everything that came their way.
In fact, the Dubliners could so easily have booked their passage to the next round, had skipper, Paul Byrne, taken advantage of a glorious scoring opportunity near the end.
The midfielder latched on to a deep cross from the left from former Bohemians player, Lee King, but failed to find the target. Indeed, King himself went close in the 66th minute, but his low angled drive was whipped off the Derry goal-line by Paul Curran.
Overall, however, Derry dominated a very disappointing game, but failed to capitalise on their superiority. Barry McCourt and Gary Beckett may have missed clear cut chances, but it must be pointed out that the St James's Gate goalkeeper, Stephen Henderson, was never seriously tested.
"Our end product was so disappointing," said Healy afterwards. "We were forced to cross the ball from deep and that played right into their hands."
In the visitors' dressing room the mood was understandably upbeat, with manager Byrne feeling his side thoroughly deserved a second bite at the cherry. "Playing defensively is an important part of the game and I thought we did that quite well."
"We didn't deserve to win the match, but we could so easily have stolen it. Every one of my players battled hard and we believe we have every chance in the replay," he concluded.
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