Shamrock Rovers 1 Derry City 1:THEY HAVE had their problems on the road over the opening weeks of the new campaign but the champions' home form strongly suggested they would be able to take advantage of the Showgrounds stalemate to narrow the gap at the top of the table last night.

Instead, an early missed penalty – Ger Doherty saved well from Billy Dennehy – and a late lack of resolve combined to cost them a win after Gary Twigg had provided a lead.

After Patrick McEleney had been sent off, David McDaid’s 77th minute equaliser gave the visitors something to cling to in the dying minutes and City fairly valiantly scrapped their way to the final whistle with 10 men to earn one rather precious point.

Early on it had actually been a little difficult to believe that when these two sides met here in the Setanta Cup a few weeks ago it had been the visitors who had effectively booked their place in that competition’s final with a 3-0 win.

But Rovers won the return leg 2-0 at the Brandywell this week and a repeat of that scoreline wouldn’t have flattered the Dubliners at half-time for they carved out more than enough chances over the course of the opening 45 minutes to put the outcome of the game beyond any serious doubt.

What they didn’t do was take any of them with Barry Molloy taking an early Dennehy attempt off the line before Twigg and Daryl Kavanagh both fluffed clear-cut opportunities to head the hosts in front. Doherty then followed up his penalty stop with a fine reaction save when the Scot aimed a shot taken on the turn directly above his head from just inside the area.

Having been under consistent pressure for so long though, City finally started to cause their opponents the occasional problem too.

They hadn’t come anywhere close to troubling Oscar Jansson through the opening stages but gradually they settled a little in midfield and started to move the ball around more effectively when breaking forward.

Things were evened up slightly too by the fact that when in possession the home side could be every bit as careless as the visitors and so some of the exchanges in midfield were exactly that, as when Mark Farren capitalised on a loose back pass by Kavanagh and set up McDaid for a shot from distance.

The striker really should have scored himself when Ruaidhri Higgins turned Dermot McCaffrey’s corner from the right back into the heart of the six-yard box and Farren diverted the ball over the bar when the goal appeared to be at his mercy.

Not long afterwards Farren was gone, having pulled up clutching his hamstring as he broke forward down the right.

But Declan Devine and the rest of his players must have been happy enough that they had weathered a bit of a storm early on and steadied things rather well in the build up to the break.

Within seconds of the restart however they were behind, with Craig Sives flicking on Gary McCabe’s corner and, after a couple of others had failed to make contact, Twigg popped up at the far post to turn the ball home for his 10th goal in nine league games.

The hosts then seemed to go to sleep for a spell with City allowed more time and space in which to build their attacking moves and there were a couple of half chances before Patrick McEleney – already on a soft booking for complaining after Rovers’ penalty – picked up a second yellow for diving almost inside the centre circle.

It was about as senseless a sending off as you could imagine a player bringing upon himself.

Still they persisted and seven minutes later an attack ended with Molloy’s volley coming back off the foot of the post to McDaid who was quick to grab the opportunity from a couple of yards out.

Inevitably, the initiative swung back towards the hosts and they chased a winner tirelessly throughout the closing stages as City sought to shut up shop and look for the chance to hit their hosts on the break.

Aaron Greene came close to getting the goal a couple of minutes from time that would have meant two extra points for Stephen Kenny’s side but his shot, like Rovers’ efforts overall on the night, were fractionally wide of the mark.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Jansson; McCormack, Sives, Gartland, Powell (Gannon, 85); McCabe (Greene, 80), Finn, Turner, Dennehy; Twigg, Kavanagh (O’Neill, 72).

DERRY CITY: Doherty; Madden, McBride, McCallion, McCaffrey; McDaid, Higgins, Molloy, Crossan (McGroary, 33 (S McEleney, 84)); P McEleney; Farren (Curran, 44).

Referee: A Buttimer (Cork).