Derry City 3 Drogheda United 0

Anthony Elding was hailed a hero on his home debut at the Brandywell last night, the Derry striker helping himself to a brace of goals.

And it could so easily have been a hat-trick but for the English man as Derry finished the game strongly.

Derry boss Peter Hutton will have been delighted with his side’s performance, the Candystripes bouncing back after their midweek loss to St Pat’s at Inchicore.

Elding put Derry into the driving seat in the 9th minute when he dived low to direct Mark Timlin’s cross past Michael Schlingermann as the home side caught Drogheda on the counter-attack.

But the goal of the game came in the 39th minute Barry McNamee found the net with a fantastic strike.

The Derry midfielder latched onto a wayward clearance from Drogheda defender, Joe Gorman, and from 25 yards the Donegal man displayed superb technique in finding the net.

Elding put the game beyond doubt from the penalty spot in the 75th minute after teenager Josh Daniels was adjudged to have been pushed by Jason Mark inside the area and referee Rob Rogers pointed to the spot

Up stepped Elding and he earned great applause with a powerful strike from 12 yards to give Schlingermann no chance.

DERRY CITY: Doherty, Kelly, S. McEleney (Clucas, 71), McBride, Barry, Daniels, McNamee, Lowry (Houston, 84), Timlin, P McEleney (Curran, 84); Elding. DROGHEDA UNITED: Schlingermann, Daly, Buckley, Gorman, Marks, Brady (Rooney, 69), Hughes, Brennan (Duffy, half-time), Maher, Walshe, Kavanagh (Scott, 80). Referee: R Rogers (Dublin).