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Gary Ferry, 14 Jul
Riga FC 2
Derry City 0
Riga win 4-0 on aggregate
Derry City's Europa Conference League campaign is over as they were
beaten in the rain in Latvia.
After losing the first leg 2-0 at the Brandywell, chances of a comeback
from Ruaidhri Higgins' team were slim, but they certainly had their
chances before a double from Gabriel Ramos ended their hopes.
Derry started well and had two great chances to open the scoring in the
opening 16 minutes. The visitors were showing no signs of nerves at all
and they grew in encouragement after a decent start, with the first
chance following on 14 minutes; Will Patching prodded a pass into the
path of Danny Lafferty and the wing back ran into the Riga area before
firing a shot into the side netting.
Yet the opportunity for James Akintunde just two minutes later was
gilt-edged and should have given City the lead. The striker, starting
in place of Jamie McGonigle, was picked out by Brandon Kavanagh, and
Akintunde ran clear on goal with just the goalkeeper to beat, only to
roll the ball wide of the target. It was a glorious opportunity for
Derry City to get the goal they so desperately needed.
Somewhat inevitably, Derry City paid for this missed chances, as Riga
scored with their first real attack of note in the game. It was a goal
eerily similar to the first at the Brandywell a week earlier as Douglas
Aurelio worked his way to the byline before pulling it across goal
where Ramos arrived to fire past Brian Maher into the top corner to
make it 1-0 on 34 minutes.
City had a chance to respond immediately when Riga goalkeeper Purins'
poor pass out of his area presented Kavanagh with a chance, and it was
a good effort from the midfielder but the ball landed on the roof of
the net with the goalkeeper scrambling.
All of a sudden, the game looked very open and substitute Soisalo went
through on goal only to be denied by Maher, before Filippov shot wide
after being set up by Aurelio.
Half Time 1-0
Derry had a mountain to climb in the second half, but they came close
to getting on the scoresheet ten minutes in. Cameron Dummigan led City
on the attack and he found the run of Lafferty who played it across
goal to the unmarked Will Patching. City's talisman took a touch before
curling the ball towards the top corner, but the upright denied him
with Purins completely beaten.
There was a huge positive for the Candystripes despite the
circumstances, and that came in the return of Michael Duffy, back after
a long spell out with injury.
But Duffy was barely on the field two minutes when Riga doubled their
lead in spectacular fashion. There was nothing Brain Maher could do as
Ramos produced a sublime finish, running at the Derry defence before
curling a beauty of a shot over the City goalkeeper and into the net
with 13 minutes remaining.
That was that, with City now turning their attention to the Northwest
derby with Finn Harps this Sunday.
Teams
DERRY CITY: Maher, Lafferty (McLaughlin 60'), Toal (Coll 85'),
McJannet, S McEleney (Duffy 72'), Thomson, Dummigan, Patching, P
McEleney, Kavanagh (Graydon 72'), Akintunde (McGonigle 60').
RIGA FC: Purins, Petsos (Soisalo 15'), Berqkvist, Korotkovs, Da Penha,
Kendysh (Tutus 85'), Jurkovskis, Ngonda, Aurelio, Ramos (Petersens
82'), Filippov (Yerchnko 45').