Derry City boss Kenny Shiels admitted he got his tactics wrong before his side went on to get a 3-1 victory against the Champions Dundalk and praised the home faithful for getting his side over the line in emphatic fashion. “I’m pleased for a lot o
Derry City boss Kenny Shiels admitted he got his tactics wrong before his side went on to get a 3-1 victory against the Champions Dundalk and praised the home faithful for getting his side over the line in emphatic fashion.
“I’m pleased for a lot of people, but it doesn’t mean to say we have arrived,” Shiels said.
“We are three games into the season and everybody is talking about silly things, but we got the breaks at the right stage and we got ourselves back into the game just before half-time and people were told, in no uncertain terms during the break, they needed to step up to the plate and they did.”
The Candystripes defended deeply for the majority of the first half and Dundalk unforgivingly accepted that invitation, taking the lead after 16 minutes when Dane Massey put his side in front from a corner.
However, the lights shined bright at Maginn Park, and the young Derry side took the game to Stephen Kenny’s team and they equalized just before the interval through Nathan Boyle.
Two more goals from Barry McNamee and Ryan McBride, who scored his second in three days, secured all three points for Derry City.
“The words at half time are unprintable, but there was a lot of words exchanged and the boys responded well and they got what they deserved, so I am pleased with that,” Shiels said.
It was the first time in four years and 14 attempts that Derry City managed to beat the Lilywhites, that too was a 3-1 win, but that was at Oriel Park and under the management of Declan Devine in 2013.
It was also a first for Kenny Shiels, who managed to get his first victory against Dundalk and former Derry City manager Stephen Kenny in five attempts, and after the game, he conceded he might have got his tactics completely wrong for a portion of the game.
“I think I got our approach wrong in the first thirty minutes because I had them dropping off and I asked them to play like they were away from home,” Shiels explained.
“But that didn’t sit well with the crowd and the environment, so we changed it then and we started to get in and around them and put in some pressure play.
“The crowd then got involved with that and it was a great dynamic, and it became more effervescent, more bubbling over type atmosphere, and I have to say that is what probably won us the match, the interaction between our aggressive movement and the crowd.”
Shaun Keenan
