Dubious penalty saves Bohemians

GOALS are ensured when Derry come to town just now but only two of them

GOALS are ensured when Derry come to town just now but only two of them. This match made it six 1-1 draws in a row for the northerners and it was the second of that sequence to knock a dent in the title hopes of Turlough O'Connor's side.

Not that the home side could have too many complaints, for having contributed little of quality to an utterly dreary first period, they continued to enjoy the better of the game in the second, but needed a rather dubious looking penalty to get the ball into Tony O'Dowd's net.

Up to that point Derry had looked fairly disinterested in just about every area of the pitch, except central defence, but after a few minutes of reflection on their plight they perked up just about long enough to salvage a point with a cracking left footed volley from Paul Hegarty.

The goal came less than a minute after Gary Beckett had forced a fine save from Dave Henderson with a driven shot from outside the area and between them they represented just about the visitor's only real scoring chances for the evening.

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At the other end, though, O'Dowd had a busy night on his hands, which he did particularly well to cope with, given that Tony O'Connor had nearly ended the keeper's involvement in the game after just 20 minutes when he collided, feet first, with him as he chased up a Donal Broughan ball.

It was the first event of note in a dull opening spell and it was followed by another bout of protracted but ineffectual building in midfield which Bohemians, in particular, failed to convert into the sort of chances that should come their way.

Mooney, occasionally managed to give his sides approach work some sense of purpose but all too often the final ball through to Derek Swan and Tony Cousins was careless and City repeatedly regained possession in the 10 yards or so outside of their area.

Swan did look to be through for the long awaited shot on goal in the 38th minute, but before O'Dowd could be dragged into the proceedings, the Bohemians striker went down under pressure from Kevin McKeever and although it appeared that Swan had taken what he thought likely to prove the more profitable route by hitting the turf, he protested enough about Pat Kelly's decision to earn himself the first booking of the night.

If the first half had disappointed, then Bohemians' growing sense of urgency after the restart soon showed that things were going to improve and as Maurice O'Driscoll began to contribute more in midfield the Dubliners' whole operation began to tick more smoothly.

Mooney almost opened the scoring with a shot that skimmed the paint work after three minutes when the big mid fielder headed Kevin Brady's cross into his path and moments later, he went close again with a free from the edge of the area.

The former Shelbourne winger was at the heart of things again for the penalty, when he flicked the ball on for Swan and was adjudged to be bundled over by Hegarty as he moved on to the lay off. Donal Broughan, a man more accustomed to causing penalties than scoring them, slotted away the spot kick and in the ensuing minutes Derry manager Felix Healy was sent to the stand for debating the quality of the referee's judgment just a little too enthusiastically.

O'Dowd was forced to keep his side in it more than once before "Hegarty made amends with a wonderful 25 yard strike off Tommy Dunne's low cross, but it was in the closing moments that he seemed to play with his old team mates across in Inchicore on his mind. First Padraig Dully got in a shot from a seemingly impossible angle which the keeper did well to get a toe to and then Broughan had a shot deflected off Dunne only to see O'Dowd save with his shoulder.

. Leicester are to report Wolves to the English League after putting Australian goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac's move to Molineux on hold to the end of the season.

Wolves boss Mark McGhee, who caused bad feeling between the two clubs by walking out on Leicester to become Graham Taylor's replacement earlier this year, will not be seeking a work permit for Kalac until the summer.

The deal was agreed almost three months ago but Leicester have not received a penny of the £250,000 fee and are still paying Kalac's wages.

Leicester chairman Martin George confirmed. "We are reporting the matter to the Foot ball League".

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone is Work Correspondent at The Irish Times