Heavy defeat for Sligo Rovers in Derry as Bit O’Red remain rooted to the bottom

Danny Mullen scored a brace, although the first had a strong suspicion of handball, and Gavin Whyte added another as Derry ran out comfortable winners.

It feels like one step forward and two back for the Bit O’Red, who were 4-0 winners over Waterford on Friday night and moved off the table for a couple of days.

Rovers have now conceded 24 goals in their opening 11 games, but have scored 16 and are joint highest scorers alongside St Patrick’s Athletic, Shamrock Rovers and Galway United.

Monday’s results across the league meant that John Russell’s side moved back into bottom place, although they did travel to Derry on Tuesday night on a high after Friday’s trashing of Waterford at the RSC.

But the Candystripes have been looking better in recent weeks, and their win against Galway on Friday night will certainly have given the hosts a boost as they welcomed Sligo to The Brandywell.

Russell had called for a similar level of performance on Tuesday night, and named an unchanged side for this tie, a signal of how happy the Rovers boss was with Friday’s performance.

Connor Malley was suspended having picked up his fifth booking of the season when he came off the bench on Friday, while Ollie Denham remained sidelined.

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