21st May 2010

Bray v Drogheda United

Match Report

Airtricity League of Ireland
Bray 2 Drogs 2

Well, this was it, the Après Mathews Show, and while we had some of what we have been served up over the last few weeks, we had a spirited fight-back in the second half which, only for a silly sending off of Jamie Duffy we handed the initiative back to Bray and in the end settled for a point.

With precious little time to prepare the team for last night, it must be said that Darius, Rory and Barry and the rest of out temporary backroom staff did very well. And coming off the demoralising loss in Sligo, most of the effort in training was building confidence back up and trying to vary the game plan. And the plan was 4-4-2, with Flood and Glen up front. As the game kicked off, our back four of Treacy, Harris, McNally and Kendrick looked shaky at times, but our midfield, and in particular Ryan Brennan showed plenty of spark and at times Ryan and Paul Crowley seemed to be the only ones who relished the physical game that Bray were playing.

The scrappy nature of the game continued for a while and we pressed Bray well and on 14 Ryan was unlucky not to give us the lead when he failed to connect on the goal line to a return pass from Fitz after great interchange between Flood , Fitz and himself. Further Drogs pressure twenty minutes later saw Jamie Harris connected well to a cross only for his goal to be ruled out for offside.

And so, having pressed well, we reverted to type and loose passes in the middle gave the eager home dangerous possession and coming up to half time they hit us with a screamer of an opening goal and a few minutes later we gifted them possession on the edge of the box and they easily scored number two just as the half time whistle sounded.

The start of the second half saw Bray pressurise us more and at times we were lucky to poke the ball away and a third goal for the home side seemed inevitable when they hot the post (as they say on the far side) and they had a goal ruled out on 49 for offside. But on 52 we got a ray of hope when the Bray full back got the red. This obviously gave us more possession, but at times we seemed incapable of using the ball well and we wasted plenty of free kicks and... as time ticked away Brendan McGill scored a wonder goal on 79 and from then on we looked for the equaliser with purpose. And on 82 handball in the box gave us a penno which Joe duly dispatched. By this time we looked like we might get the winner when five minutes from time Jamie Duffy got a red car for a needless challenge on a Bray defender and that effectively took our momentum away.

Still , a point is a point .. well done to the boys.

Team: Skinner, Treacy, Kendrick, McNally, Harris, Crowley, Brendan McGill, Brennan, Daly, Flood (Dufffy 72), Fitzpatrick

Subs not used: E. McGill, Matondo, Smyth, Murphy