Ruaidhri Higgins reckons Derry City were robbed of a certain penalty at the crunch moment of last night’s scoreless draw against Bohs.
Derry's frustration at dropping points at home was compounded by title rivals, Shamrock Rovers, beating UCD at Tallaght.
But Higgins too feels Derry should have won - and was left fuming when ref Damian McGraith opted not to award City a penalty, one minute from the end, when Jamie McGonigle’s head struck Bohs defender Krystian Nowak’s hand.
Higgins said: “It was an absolute stonewall penalty. He played basketball for a couple of seconds. I have watched it back three times and the referee was in a brilliant position to make his decision.
“The Bohs player handled not just once, but two or three times.
“We were in the ascendency when it happened. I have got booked for appealing for a penalty. Football is an emotional game.
“I haven’t used any bad language. I don’t know what else to say right now.
“We didn’t get the decision we deserved - so we will move on.”
They move into the international break after a run of form when they have posted scoreless draws against Shels and Bohs at home, and have lost to Sligo and St Pat’s away.
With one goal in four matches - they now trail Rovers by six points.
“I won’t fault, or criticise, the players’ effort.
“There are 45 points to play for, a lot of football left. We will embrace the challenge and move on.
“It has been up and down, patchy. We have had good periods of form, poor periods. We need to be more consistent. We do have the players to go on a really good run. But we need everyone fit and well.
“We will try and bring in a couple of players; a couple will leave. Matt Ward has gone back to Ipswich; Ollie O’Neill will go back to Fulham now. One or two others may want to leave the club and pursue first team football. There won’t be drastic changes.”
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