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eircom League Cup Quarter Final

Date	27/01/2002
Score (Blues First)	0 - 4
Venue	The Brandywell, Derry
Kick Off	3.00 PM
Attendance	2,975
Weather	Cold and Windy
Referee	Sligo
Goal Scorers	None
Cards	Yellow: Frost, Dempsey,Whittle, Leahy
Pitch	Excellent surface

A journey of 550 miles was completed on sunday night when I arrived back back on suirside, but still disappointed at the way we were beaten in the Brandywell. The night before all the players and management were really up for the Quarter final clash with Premier high flyers and League Cup specialists Derry City. The match in Finn Park was postponed on saturday night due to a waterlogged pitch, so a fresh Blues eleven could face the Candystripes and prove our promotion credentials.

As the 10 Blues fans amoung nearly 3,000 Home supporters heard the team line up, we were a bit shell shocked. As we saw the team line out we we were more surprised. David Breen former captain playing in centre midfield, Alan O'Brien playing right wing, and new boy Tony Smith playing up front even though he is a wide right player we were looking like David in the Lions Den. Why Brendan Rea was captain is anyone's guess? Derry started as we knew they would passing the ball around the super slick surface and the young Waterford lads chasing shadows. After 15 minutes we keeping the Candystripes at bay and there supporters in the crowd were urging them to shoot or even get the ball into the box, but no they were happy keeping the ball in area of the pitch that were not hurting the Blues rearguard. It was only errors by our defence and especially Big Brendan were giving Derry shooting chances and Fennelly was saving and holding everything the strikers were firing at him. After the onslaught we settled down well and starting causing the home team some problems. Myler and Smith were lively up front and Dempsey was linking up well. Our best chance fell to David Breen who's header grazed the top of the crossbar, with the Derry keeper beaten. No score at half time and McGeough could be very happy with his teams performance.

As the second half got under way it became clear that Smith and his new teammates needed more time to understand each other, as unlike Dempsey, Smith wanted the ball into the space and then he would run after it, but unfortunatley we couldn't see this on the pitch. Brendan was having a nightmare at the back as the speed and first touch of the Derry players had him at six and sevens. When Paul Leahy took off his tracksuit top i could only see one change, but it was different from those on the bench. A harsh lesson was learned when Leahy did come on, as Derry had gain a throw in deep in the Waterford half, and when Alan O'Brien's number was held up all the players looked to see where he would play. In doing this Derry's only danger man Liam Coyle was left free just outside the box and when he recieved the ball he just struck it with power into the back of the net. We were still trying to find our shape when Derry's second goal arrived. At this stage Derry's passing and movement improved and it was like men against boys. The introduction of Ian Barry saw the players moved again, Dempsey up front, Leahy into middle and Barry on the right. Minutes latter Breen was moved up front as Jimmy tried to find the best system to stop Derry murdering us. Two more goals followed and the 10 Blues fans were delighted to hear the final whistle. We were unlucky to have to play a top class team with so many players missing, Colin O'Brien, Kelvin Flanagan, Noel Hunt and Wayne Fitzgerald would have made a big difference to our performance.

This is a game I know that the players enjoyed, big stadium, big crowd and good quality soccer match. This is what we can look forward to next season if we get promoted and this should help the players give that extra little push for the 8 league games left and 6 wins that will guarantee us a place amougst the elite in Irish football next season.