Derry City boss Ruaidhrí Higgins has slammed the "unacceptable" call by referee Neil Doyle to award Bohemians a penalty during Monday's SSE Airtricity Premier Division game at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
Bohs were awarded the spot kick after 64 minutes when Ollie O'Neill collided with Kris Twardek. Dean Williams slotted home to extend the Gypsies' lead at the top of the table, while also condemning Derry to consecutive home defeats following the loss to Drogheda United on Good Friday.
Higgins cut a frustrated figure when he spoke afterwards on the penalty award, though he did accept that his side's current home form is not good enough.
"The penalty is just not a penalty," he said.
"I'm normally quite fair to referees when I speak, but that’s not a penalty. If anything the one before that on Ben Doherty is a penalty.
"If you look at the last four home games; against Dundalk one of their players blatantly should have been sent off for cynical fouling, against Sligo we had a goal disallowed that shouldn’t have been disallowed, and against Drogheda they evened it up by giving Cameron McJannet a second yellow that shouldn’t have been a second yellow, and now Bohs have got a penalty tonight that shouldn’t have been a penalty.
"Don’t get me wrong; our home form hasn’t been good enough, but that’s unacceptable tonight. That penalty shouldn’t have been a penalty and those types of decisions are costing us too much at the minute. Don’t get me wrong, we should be doing better, at home in particular, but you can’t deny the fact that it’s hurting us at the minute."
Derry, who forced 14 corners, only had two shots on target throughout the 90 minutes. Still, Higgins felt his side should have got something from the encounter.
"It’s certainly a game we didn’t deserve to lose without doubt. I don’t think Brian Maher has had a save to make in the game.
"The game was nip and tuck, then they get a penalty out of the blue and you then have to go an force the issue and they are hanging on.
"Naturally they are going to defend their box and naturally we are going to put crosses into the box and we had three or four good chances towards the end. We certainly didn’t deserve to lose the game."
Higgins' counterpart Declan Devine was pleased to get back on the winning track after the loss against Shamrock Rovers. He admitted that he didn't fully see the penalty incident.
"We are all annoyed when things go against us. We had a player sent off against Shelbourne that was never a sending off. Neil Doyle is one of the best referees in the country; I'd back him one hundred percent. I think whenever he's doing a game he'll do it fair. I have to see it back, so I can't really comment on it."
Despite the absence of key players, Devine praised the way his troops dug in to secure another three points on the road.
"It was a massive response to our defeat on Friday night; we showed tremendous character and they done things we asked them to do. They dug deep. We had to play on the counter-attack we had four or five injuries tonight, we were down a lot of bodies. It's a massive, massive three points. To be sitting on 21 points out of 27, well that's full testimony to the character of the players.
"Coming to the Brandywell and winning is a big statement. We'll not get too carried way, we have a lot more games to play. It will give players confidence that they can go to difficult venues when they are down players and still be able to perform."
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