In coppa UEFA, il Derry City pareggia con il Paris SG
Derry City 0 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain
DERRY City again stunned European football at the Brandywell with a sparkling performance, the "Candy Stripes" holding the mighty Paris St. Germain to a scoreless draw.
That result not only continued Derry's unbeaten run at their spiritual home to a marvellous 18 matches without defeat, but also gave Stephen Kenny's side a fighting chance in the second leg at Parc Des Princes on September 28th.
Derry survived a rocky period in the twenty minutes before half-time but apart from that Derry coped comfortably with the challenge from Paris and they should have been awarded a penalty nine minutes into the second half.
The incident occurred when the lively Kevin McHugh attacked the right flank of the Paris defence and as he worked his way into the box he was knocked by a defender who never succeeded in making contact with the ball.
McHugh turned from his fallen position expecting a penalty decision but the referee from Slovakia waved aside the Derry appeals much to the chagrin of the capacity 3,000 fans who filled every available corner of this compact stadium.
Derry were unlucky on that occasion and they showed remarkable composure on such an important occasion. They grew in confidence as the game aged and succeeded in denying Paris a scoring opportunity throughout the second half when it might have been reasonably expected that Paris' physical strength and conditioning would give them a distinct edge as Derry tired.
That never happened, however, and, indeed, it was Derry who exerted the greater pressure in the second half. That was illustrated when Killian Brennan, who was outstanding until tiredness caused him to be substituted ten minutes from the end, sent McHugh on his run which should have won Derry a penalty.
Brennan showed the spirit within Derry when he had a left-foot shot that flew narrowly over in the opening minutes and he went closer still in the 15th minute when his shot from 22 yards smacked against the crossbar and rebounded to safety.
Brennan's shot followed a throw from Sean Hargan on the left-wing in a move that was obviously well-rehearsed and Derry looked menacing in the opening spell.
Paris settled, however, and they had the better of the twenty minutes before half-time.
It was Brennan who was again in the picture after 30 minutes when he came to the rescue of his goalkeeper David Forde by clearing off the goal-line. Forde came for a corner but was beaten as Pancrate got his head to the ball but, fortunately for Derry, Brennan was in the right spot.
Goalkeeper David Forde was in the right spot three minutes later as he dived acrobatically to his peft to push away a shot from 20 yards from Hellebuyck that almost sneaked inside an upright.
Again Derry escaped when Darren Kelly was on the goal-line to turn a shot from Drame away after goalkeeper Forde had again been beaten as Derry held on.
Half-time score: Derry City 0 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain
A tactical substitution by Kenny during the early stages of the second period changed the pattern of the game and Derry looked the more dangerous afterwards.
Derry introduced Gary Beckett for an off-form Paddy McCourt in the 58th minute and manager Stephen Kenny also introduced Mark Farren for Brennan as Derry went in search of a winning goal.
Paris introduced the Portugese international, Pauleta, with twenty minutes left to play but the man who is Portugal's record goalscorer and was leading goalscorer in the French League last season was scarcely given a touch of the ball by the dominant Derry defence.
Ken Oman and Darren Kelly were immense at the heart of that defence and the .overall efforts of a determined and disciplined Derry ensured they did not concede and they will go to the Parc des Princes in two weeks with ambitions still soaring.
In the end, the 'Candy Stripes' will be delighted with the effort put in and manager Stephen Kenny – taking charge of his 99th game for Derry - achieved his priority of keeping the game 'alive' for the second leg and an opportunity to progress to the group stages of the UEFA Cup.
Full-time score: Derry City 0 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain