Derry City secured another three points with a hard fought 2-1 win against St. Patrick’s Athletic at The Brandywell. Aaron McEneff’s double secured Derry City yet another home win, but Keith Buckley will be deeply frustrated at his side for not comi
Substitute Rory Patterson secured all three points for Derry City as he scored one minute from time to light up the Brandywell Stadium.
Derry City opened the scoreline after three minutes when Ally Roy showed great awareness to intercept the ball from the St.Pats defender before driving home his third goal of the season.
The Candystripes took charge as Liam Buckley’s side struggled to get a foothold in the fixture and they almost doubled their deficit midway through the first half. Ally Roy and Dean Shiels were causing havoc for the St.Pats defence and they almost crumbled under the pressure as Rory Hale robbed Conan Bryne of possession outside the 18-yard area before seeing his effort sail out for a goal kick.
The Saints started at pedestrian pace but they almost pulled one back when Conan Byrne collected Ryan Brennan’s through ball, which cut open the City defence, but he couldn’t beat Gerard Doherty at his near post, hitting the woodwork.
Derry’s failure to keep a clean sheet held up once again as St. Patrick’s Athletic equalised just before the interval. Ryan Brennan took advantage of some cheap defending from Dan Seabourne inside the penalty box before forcing the ball home from close range to level the scorecard.
In the second half, the Foylesiders started the laboured of the two sides and Pats almost recorded a lead for the first time in the fixture. After 83 minutes, Robert Harvey awarded Liam Buckley’s side a penalty when Ben Fisk naively upended Simon Madden inside the penalty area. However, an indomitable Doherty denied Killian Brennan from 12-yards to keep the scoreline all-square.
Derry were always going to get their moment and they did with two minutes left. A superb ball by Aaron McEneff put it on a plate for Rory Patterson, who made no mistake in front of goal. Pats pushed for an equaliser but the game turned fiery towards the end as three red-cards were dished out for an off the ball incident.
