Derry City manager Tiernan Lynch admitted he was lost for words after seeing his side concede "absolutely horrific goals" to allow Shamrock Rovers to snatch victory at the Ryan McBride Brandywell on Friday night.
The Candystripes had been leading 1-0 after substitute Danny Mullen opened the scoring in the second half.
But the visitors quickly equalised through teenager Michael Noonan before Aaron McEneff scored a late, late winner to seal a 2-1 away win for Rovers which leaves Derry down in third, eight points adrift of the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division leaders.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Lynch was still processing the fallout from the result and zoned in on the goals given away which he felt were "really poor" and "unacceptable".
"Probably lost for words if I'm honest. I felt there were so many really good things we did out there tonight," he told Eric White.
"We showed real commitment and a real desire and a hunger and all the things we've been asking of them.
"But I'm lost for words with the goals that we conceded. Absolutely horrific goals to concede. I don't think (Rovers) had too many shots the whole night.
"I thought everything we asked of (the players) we got but there were times we probably could have been better in possession and could have been a bit more comfortable in possession which is something we are working on and the boys are trying to improve on, there's no doubt about that. But you can't legislate for those goals."
Former Larne manager Lynch, who is in his first season in charge at Derry, added that he was "absolutely distraught" by the manner in which the game was turned on its head.
His emotions were in stark contrast to his opposite number Stephen Bradley who felt his Hoops side deserved the victory and were "top class" in the second '45 on route to a fifth win on the trot.
"To be fair to Derry, they were better first half. We felt they would start quickly considering our game on Monday," he said.
"They did that, they got the crowd involved, they created a bit of momentum with set plays but they never really had any opportunities and then second half I thought we completely dominated the game.
"I thought we controlled every aspect. The (Derry) goal came against the run of play but you could see we were in a good place and never really worried us and we scored two good goals.
"The second goal was a really high level goal so yeah I think we deserved to win the game."
While Rovers are building real momentum, Bradley said he would still welcome the upcoming mid-season break which will come after next week's round of games.
"No, I want the break," he said.
"Players deserve a few days off and then because when we come back we're into Europe and it gets hectic again.
"So when you get breaks like this, you take them and you make sure you use them properly and we'll do that. History shows we get better in the second part of the season."
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