INSTITUTE: Boss felt his side did enough to claim home win

The Stute gaffer felt they pushed the Seasiders all the way and if they had taken their chances they would have claimed all three points.

“We had a real go at them and I felt we deserved to be at least 2-0 up at half-time,” he said.

“We hit the crossbar and the post in the first half but it wasn’t to be. They stepped it up a bit after the break with a few long balls and got knock downs they also hit the post but I do think we deserved to win the game. I think for 70 minutes we were dangerous and we were the better team. We created enough to win the game so I have to stay positive.

“Maybe on another day we would have lost that 1-0, but the clean sheet is a real positive. We looked sound at the back but it’s just unfortunate we couldn’t get our noses in front.”

Deery was delighted that the Waterside men managed to secure their third clean-sheets in the league this campaign.

“Although we have a super defensive record this season, we still have lost four league games 1-0, so that’s 12 points dropped, so as a manager a clean-sheet is always a positive,” he added.

“We looked solid apart from maybe when Michael (Lynch) getting a wee bit erratic coming off his line once and nearly getting caught out, but apart from that we always looked comfortable.

“We need a left-back but the type of calibre of player I want is hard to get with our budget, but with Darryl McDermott now back I could maybe play with three at the back, have two wing backs and be really positive.”