Derry City's dream of reaching the group stages of the Europa League have ended for this year after losing to CSKA Sofia.

 

After losing 1-0 away in the first leg, The Candystripes had it all to do in The Brandywell on Thursday and even though they drew the game 1-1, they went out 2-1 on aggregate.

 

With a big crowd behind them, Stephen Kenny's side were cautious early on and rarely threatened the visitor's goal. CSKA were forced into an early change when keeper Zdravko Chavdarov had to be replaced.

 

Gerard Doherty had to be on full alert when Pavel Vidanov and Todor Timonov tested the keeper early on, but there were few chances in the first-half to really take note of.

 

Derry's plan of shutting their opponents down in midfield appeared to be working until Marcos Malachias popped up with the opening goal for CSKA in the 70th minute.

 

The task of scoring three goals in order to swing the tie around in their favour proved too great for Derry in the end, despite David Scullion pulling one back on 82 minutes when the hosts piled forward.

 

It wasn't to be for Kenny's men and the late dismissal of Gareth McGlynn was a further blow as their European dream came to an abrupt end at the hands of an impressive team.

 

Derry City: Doherty, O'Brien, Delaney, Hutton, Gray, Stewart, Deery, Molloy (Scullion 73), Higgins, Farren (McGlynn 52), McManus (Nash 89).

 

CSKA Sofia: Chavdarov (Karadjou 29), Minev, Kotev, Ivanov, Vidanov, Todorov, Yanev, Petrov, Stoyanov, Timonov (Rui Migel 65), Malachias (Orlinov 82).

 

Referee: J Efong Nzolo (Belgium).