Joseph Anang holds on as the dominant Derry has to share the spoils with St Pat’s

Derry City lacked the killer touch as they were extremely frustrated against St Patrick’s Athletic.

uaidhrí Higgins’ side dominated from start to finish but failed to break through a defense they had broken four times just 10 days earlier, losing their Premier Division lead in the process.

City started to assert themselves early in the game and St Pats goalkeeper Joseph Anang had to shove a Daniel Lafferty header over the bar as City forced three consecutive corners.

The hosts’ best chance came on 15 minutes when Ronan Boyce slotted the ball through for Brandon Kavanagh, who had a clear run to goal but his left-footed shot went wide and sailed over the bar.

The Candystripes were agonizingly close to breaking the deadlock in the 37th minute when Will Patching’s corner was met by Eoin Toal, who headed in only for Anang to instinctively put his arm out for a fantastic reflex save.

A piece of Patrick McEleney magic almost delivered Derry City in the 73rd minute when he controlled the ball 25 yards from goal and powerfully propelled it through a sea of ​​bodies only for the ball to bounce off the base of the post as Anang was beaten .

St Pat’s hadn’t been any force in the game but they could have snapped it in the 77th minute with their first shot of the game when Chris Forrester was picked in the area in space but he sent his shot wide of target.

City had a wonderful opportunity to win the game in the 82nd minute when they broke a three-for-one counterattack, but just as the final pass needed to be played they slowed it down and Kavanagh matched it to Jamie McGonigle who only could shoot directly at Anang.

DERRY CITY – Maher, Boyce, S McEleney, Toal, Lafferty, Dummigan, Thomson (P McEleney 67′) (McLaughlin 86′), Patching, Kavanagh, McGonigle, Smith (Akintunde 67′).

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC – Anang, Redmond, Grivosti, Breslin, Curtis, Forrester, O’Reilly, McClelland (Burns 59′), M Doyle (Robinson 64′), King, E Doyle.

REFEREE – Rob Hennessy (Dublin).