Derry City joined St Patrick's Athletic at the summit of the eircom League of Ireland Premier Division with a well-earned 2-0 defeat of Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds.
Superb first-half strikes from Barry Molloy and Kevin McHugh maintained Derry's unbeaten start to the season, despite the fact that Mark Farren missed an early penalty.
Derry's Dave Rogers saw a straight red with four minutes remaining for a wild challenge on Chris Turner, but Derry hung on for all three points.
Derry manager Pat Fenlon made one change to the team that drew with Drogheda on Monday, with Farren returning from injury to start in place of Patrick McCourt.
He partnered McHugh up front after the Killea-man shook off an injury picked up in that match.
The home side also made one change from their last outing, with Scottish winger Stephen Manson starting in place of the suspended Adam Hughes.
Derry should have been ahead after just nine minutes. Rovers' Keith Foy and Jason McCartney made a mess of clearing the ball in their own area, and McCartney ended up tripping Gareth McGlynn.
Farren took the spot-kick, but Sligo keeper Richard Brush dived low to his left to turn it around the post.
Boosted by this, Rovers created their best chance of the half, as Rafael Cretaro outjumped Derry keeper Patrick Jennings, and directed Keith Foy's delivery towards goal. But centre-back Darren Kelly was well-placed to head the ball away from danger.
Derry claimed a deserved breakthrough when McGlynn and Eddie McCallion combined on the right to tee-up Molloy at the edge of the area on 34 minutes, and his powerful drive took a slight deflection before rustling the top of the net.
Derry went two clear six minutes later with a superb piece of improvisation from the in-form McHugh. His initial snapshot on the left-hand side of the box was charged down by Gavin Peers, but the rebounded bounced kindly for the striker.
He then proceeded to lift the ball over Brush and Foy on the line, for his third goal of the season.
Rovers' day got worse just after the restart as Irish U-21 international Gary Curran was stretchered off after a tough challenge from Kelly, who earned a booking.
Foy’s shot from the resulting free took a deflection on the way through, but Jennings managed to turn it round the post.
Rovers upped their tempo after this, with Cretaro particularly impressive, but Derry left Farren sitting on the last defender and he looked threatening on the counter-attack.
McHugh and Ciaran Martyn put Farren through on 68 minutes, but Brush continued to frustrate the striker before Rovers introduced Nigerian striker Choice Aisien in a bid to find a goal.
McHugh picked up a knock late on and made way for Gary Beckett, but Derry were able to hold on for all three points.
Teams - Sligo Rovers: Brush, Turner, MacKenzie (c), Peers, Foy (Kelly 80 mins), Cretaro, O’Grady, Curran (Coleman 49), McCartney, Kudozovic, Manson (Aisien 69).
Derry City: Jennings, McCallion, Kelly, Oman, Rogers, McGlynn, Deery, Molloy, Martyn, McHugh (Beckett 78), Farren (O’Halloran 86).
Referee: Dave McKeon.
