League Report: Sligo Rovers 3-0 Bray Wanderers

Sligo Rovers moved to fifth in the table following a comfortable 3-0 victory over Bray Wanderers in The Showgrounds on Saturday evening.

Paul O’Conor and Eric Odhiambo scored on either side of a ‘goal of the month’ contender from John Russell to extend the club’s unbeaten run in the SSE Airtricity League to seven games.

Russell had the first chance of the game after four minutes when his shot from the edge of the box fell safely into the arms of Bray ‘keeper Stephen McGuinness.

Danny North tried his luck with an audacious chip six minutes later and he wasn’t far away from breaking the deadlock as his effort struck the visitor’s crossbar.

Minutes later, Bray’s best opportunity of the half came to Sligo native Gary Curran whose strike from just outside the box was spilled by Gary Rogers, but the goalkeeper recovered quickly to gather the ball on the second attempt. Danny O’Connor then found David Cassidy in the box whose header was blocked off the line by Seamus Conneely.

Danny Ledwith came agonisingly close to scoring from two attempts in the space of a minute, but the Sligo winger could only shoot narrowly wide of either post.

The home side broke the deadlock in the 19th minute when a John Russell cross was poorly dealt with, allowing Paul O’Conor to score from point-blank range.

Bray pushed for an equaliser for the remainder of the half with Dave Scully and Shane O’Neill both causing problems for the defence, but neither striker could find the target.

The second half begun with little action of note, but the game exploded back into life with a stunning goal from John Russell as he beat McGuinness with one of the finest volleys scored at this ground in recent memory.

As the game entered the final ten minutes, Danny North and Eric Odhiambo were both denied certain goals in quick succession with last ditch interceptions.

But Odhiambo did get his name on the scoresheet three minutes from time when he picked up a ball from Sean Maguire and skipped past the ‘keeper before slotting home to wrap up the three points.

Sligo Rovers: Gary Rogers; Seamus Conneely, Jeff Henderson, Evan McMillan, Ross Gaynor; Paul O’Conor, David Cawley, John Russell, Aaron Greene (Eric Odhiambo 75), Danny Ledwith (Regan Donelon 90); Danny North (Sean Maguire 84).
Subs not used: Richard Brush (gk), Kalen Spillane, Jake Dykes, Jordan Loftus.

Booked: None.

Bray Wanderers: Stephen McGuinness; Dave Webster, Danny O’Connor, Dean Zambra, Jamie McGlynn; Gary Curran, David Cassidy, Graham Kelly (Shane Byrne 66), Adam Hanlon (Michael Browne 88); Shane O’Neill (Ismahil Akinade 71), Dave Scully.
Subs not used: Shane Redmond (gk), Sean Hurley, Robert Moloney, Ciaran Byrne.

Booked: S O’Neill (50), D O’Connor (84).

Referee: Anthony Buttimer

Attendance: 2,094

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: John Russell (Sligo Rovers)