Stephen Kenny's Derry were beaten by last year's champions

Derry City manager Stephen Kenny acknowledged that Drogheda United "probably deserved" their win in Friday's Eircom Premier League clash.

"Overall, I can't really complain about the defeat. Drogheda had more chances than we had," said Kenny after his side's 1-0 defeat at the Brandywell.

"Drogheda are not champions for nothing. They closed us down all over the park.

"They caused us problems and we just lacked a bit of penetration."

Kenny added:"Sometimes we got seven or eight passes going in the first half without going anywhere."

The Derry manager did feel that Eamon Zayed's 33rd-minute winner should have been disallowed for offside.

"There weren't many chances but I thought their goal was offside.

We have a game every three days and you have go bounce back quickly Stephen Kenny

"The winger looked well offside and it was a soft goal from our point of view."

Kenny insisted that his players would not let the defeat affect their confidence for the remainder of the campaign.

"We have a game every three days and you have to bounce back quickly.

"We have St Patrick's Athletic in the Setanta Cup at Inchicore on Tuesday.

"League wise, it means for the last seven games, it is going to be very tight for the European spot but that's the way this league is."

The win moved fourth-placed Drogheda to within five points of the Candystripes, who currently occupy the third place that would guarantee a Uefa Cup place.

Drogheda also have a game in hand on Stephen Kenny's side.