Derry City 1 Bohemians 0

Whatever about the state of Derry City off the field they are beginning to move in the right direction on it.

Last night they hosted early pacesetters Bohemians at the Brandywell and bagged their second successive league win in the process.

In a tight game it was Derry who played the better football and they took a deserved lead in the 33rd minute when striker Liam Coyle waltzed through a static Bohs defence and dispatched the ball past Wayne Russell.

Bohemians never came out of the traps in the first half but they did lift their game a notch in the second. However it was Derry who came closest to scoring again when a chance fell to Stephen Parkhouse in the 63rd minute - but the striker's header went narrowly wide.

Bohs finished the game with ten men after Dave Hill unnecessarily got his marching orders in the 56th minute for retaliating to a Coyle challenge. There was no need to react because referee Hugh Byrne was taking action against Coyle.

Roddy Collins will be worried about his team's display with such an important match as their UEFA Cup clash with Kaiserslautern coming up. They looked a shadow of the team that have played so well up to now.

Derry City: Connolly, McCallion, Hargan , Hutton, Kelly, Doherty, Harkin, Hegarty, Coyle, Beckett, McLaughlin.
Subs: Quigley for Doherty 53 mins, Parkhouse for Coyle 58 mins.
Bohemians: Russell, O'Connor, Webb, Hunt, Maher, Hill, Morrison, Caffrey, Molloy, Crowe, Hopper.
Subs: O'Keefe for Hopper 61 mins, Markey for Molloy 81 mins.
Referee: H. Byrne (Dublin)