League Report: Bray Wanderers 1-0 St Patrick's Athletic

Trevor Croly got his reign as Bray Wanderers manager off to a perfect start with a 74^th minute strike from Peter McGlynn giving the Seagulls a precious 1-0 win over St. Patrick's Athletic on Saturday evening at the Carlisle Grounds.

Wanderers came into the game having fallen to their ninth defeat of the season away to Drogheda United last week whilst Pats made the short journey to the seaside on the back of a scoreless draw in Monday's rescheduled Luas derby clash with Shamrock Rovers.

No doubt intent on impressing their new manager, Bray started the brighter of the two teams with the first chance of the game falling to Adam Hanlon who could only manage to skew his effort wide of Brendan Clarke's right-hand post after Chris Lyons showed ingenuity to tee him up with a clever back heel.

Pats steadied themselves after that early scare and Killian Brennan almost put them in the lead on eleven minutes with a dipping free-kick from distance that required Bray netminder Stephen McGuinness to be at full stretch to tip over the bar.

Pats were now beginning to boss the possession steaks and within a spell of fifteen minutes or so, managed to force a plethora of corners. Nonetheless, with the Wicklow outfit's rearguard standing resolute, the best the Saints could muster from their deliveries from the quadrant was a glancing Brennan header that failed to find its intended target.

Although the Richmond Park outfit were enjoying the lion's share of possession, Bray continued to pose a threat on the break with former Bohs man Lyons looking particularly dangerous for the Seagulls. On 26 minutes he teed up McGlynn again whose drive was deflected over the bar by Sean Hoare whilst shortly before the break, he marauded down the left flank before pulling an inviting ball across Brendan Clarke's goalmouth which none of his teammates could manager to get on the end of.

St. Pat's upped the tempo considerably after the interval and were to fashion the first opening of the second period with Chris Forrester curling a fine delivery into the box for Ciaran Kilduff who could only prod the ball into the gleeful arms of McGuinness in the Bray goal.

Brennan was next to go close for the defending FAI Cup champions but somehow the Wanderers defence managed to scramble the Louth man's wonderfully executed overhead kick off the line and away to safety.

However, just when it seemed it was only a matter of time before Liam Buckley's side grabbed the opener, Bray took a shock lead against the run of play on 72 minutes courtesy of the lively McGlynn who buried his sweetly struck effort in the far corner of Clarke's goal after working his way down the left flank.

With Pat's launching wave after wave of attack in a desperate search for an equaliser, the closing stages proved most testing for the home side. Nonetheless, they managed to whether the storm and could very well of made their victory look that little bit more impressive had David Cassidy and substitute Emeka Onwubiko taken full advantage of goalscoring opportunities in the closing stages.

Bray Wanderers: Stephen McGuinness; Hugh Douglas, Alan McNally, Adam Mitchell, Michael Barker; Adam Hanlon, Ryan McEvoy, David Cassidy, Peter McGlynn; Graham Kelly; Chris Lyons (Emeka Onwubiko 85).
Subs Not Used: Brian Kane (gk), Jack Memery, Daniel O'Reilly, Luke Gallagher, Peter Durrad, James O'Donnell.

Booked: McEvoy (54), Hanlon (65).

St Patrick's Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Conor McCormack, Sean Hoare, Lee Desmond, Ian Bermingham; Conan Byrne, James Chambers, Killian Brennan (Jamie McGrath 85), Chris Forrester (Morgan Langley 66); Aaron Greene, Ciaran Kilduff.
Subs Not Used: Pat Jennings (gk), Jason McGuinness, Kenny Browne, Sam Verdon, Jack Bayly.

Booked: Byrne (73).

Referee: Padraigh Sutton.

Attendance: 1,000 (estimate).

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Chris Lyons (Bray Wanderers).