Derry City 0 Bohemians 0:PAT FENLON will be the happier of the two managers after his side earned a point at the Brandywell last night. However, the Bohemians manager will have complaints following the sending-off of Jason McGuinness in the 65th minute, the centre-half having been shown a second yellow card by referee Richie Winters.
From that point, Derry City controlled possession and while they created no shortage of scoring chances during the latter stages, they failed to beat Brian Murphy in the Bohemians goal.
In what proved a high tempo opening period, few clear-cut chances were created but the home side went closest to breaking the deadlock in the 28th minute. A cross from Gareth McGlynn found Niall McGinn and while his shot was blocked by Jason McGuinness, the home side failed to force the ball home. Bohemians winger Killian Brennan went close with a free-kick as both sides continued to cancel each other out.
Derry's Thomas Stewart flashed a shot wide of the target in the 50th minute while Mark McChrystal went close nine minutes later. A corner by Ruaidhri Higgins saw the Derry centre-half's header scrape the Bohemians crossbar. Bohemians' hopes were not helped when they were reduced to 10 men, McGuinness shown a second yellow card for a back from behind on Mark Farren.
Derry moved up a gear afterwards and substitute Sammy Morrow, who was making his first appearance of the season following a cruciate knee injury, should have won the game in the 81st minute. He was sent clear by a sublime Higgins pass but in the one-on-one situation the striker's shot was blocked by Murphy.
Derry continued to press but McGinn and McGlynn were denied by Murphy. And McGlynn squandered a glorious opportunity in the 90th minute, the midfielder screwing his volley wide from point-blank range.
DERRY CITY:Doherty; Deery, McChrystal, Hutton, Gray; Higgins, McGlynn, Martyn (Morrison 71); McGinn, Farren (McHugh 89), Stewart (Morrow 77).
BOHEMIANS:Murphy; O Heary, McGuinness, Burns, Powell; Murphy (Kelly 78), T Heary, O'Donnell, Brennan; Fenn, Crowe (Singh 91).
Referee:R Winters (Wicklow).
