League Report: Longford Town 1 - 1 Bray Wanderers

Bray Wanderers departed the midlands with their first league point of the season following a 1-1 draw with Longford Town at the City Calling Stadium on Saturday evening.

They will regret the concession of a freak second half equaliser from David O’Sullivan though, having gone ahead just minutes earlier through frontman Dean Kelly.

The game began slowly with neither side able to create many openings. The first genuine thing of note during the dour exchanges was the unfortunate injury to veteran Longford defender Mark Rossiter. The Galway native was replaced by ex-Bray defender Daniel O’Reilly just ten minutes in.

Dylan Connolly was showing mild signs of promise during the opening minutes and it was the former Shelbourne and Ipswich Town man who forged the first shot of the match. His well struck half-volley flew across Paul Skinner’s goal but went comfortably wide of the mark.

Indeed, it was Bray’s only effort on the Town goal in the entire opening half. It summed up the lack of quality and a cutting edge that was endemic throughout the pitch.

Longford’s first attempt on goal was in added time at the end of the opening period. On-loan Bournemouth striker Josh O’Hanlon saw his headed effort from an O’Sullivan cross go straight at Peter Cherrie in the visiting goal.

Not only was this Town’s first effort on goal of the match, but it was also the first time that either side had hit the target over the entire duration of the first half.

Mick Cooke had some choice words for his players following last Monday evening’s hammering in Galway, and he must have applied the same reaction in his half-time team talk, as Bray entered the fray in the second half with a real sense of purpose and vigour.

They took an early second half lead when League of Ireland journeyman Dean Kelly scored against his former employers.

Left-back Jason Marks found himself high up the pitch down the left hand side. Marks showed good feet to deliver for Karl Moore. His flick on found Kelly lurking intently inside the box and he finished with aplomb to put Bray ahead.

They couldn’t hold onto the lead for long though as they conceded a truly bizarre goal only four minutes later. As Cherrie tried to launch a back pass clear, his powerful drive ricochet off the onrushing O’Sullivan and looped into the empty net, as the home side fortunately got back on level terms.

That seemed to put Longford into the ascendency for, without creating much in the way of clear cut chances.

The most notable incident over the remainder of the match was again a disappointing one. Former Bohemians midfielder Robbie Creevy was stretchered off twelve minutes from time following a late and overly robust challenge on him by Longford’s Kevin O’Connor.

The tackle saw O’Connor receive his marching orders from match referee Ben Connolly. Bray used the man advantage to force late pressure on the Longford goal, but they couldn’t capitalise and instead they had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Longford Town: Paul Skinner; James Mulhall, Pat Flynn, Mark Rossiter (Daniel O’Reilly 10), Conor Powell (Kealan Dillon 69); Philip Gannon, Mark Hughes, David O’Sullivan (Peter McGlynn,87), Kevin O’Connor, Kaleem Simon; Josh O’Hanlon.

Subs not used: Ian Molloy, John McKeown, Karl Chambers, Keith Beirne.

Booked: Kevin O’Connor (45 and 78).

Sent off: Kevin O’Connor (78).

Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Hugh Douglas, Conor Kenna, Alan McNally, Jason Marks; Karl Moore, Robbie Creevy (Mark Salmon 81), Ryan Brennan, Dylan Connolly (Sean Noble 89); Dean Kelly, Andrew Lewis (Ger Pender 77).

Subs not used: Aaron Shanahan, Paul Finnegan, Alan Byrne, Curtis Murphy.

Booked: None

Referee: Ben Connolly.

Attendance: 700 (estimate).

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: David O’Sullivan (Longford Town).

Ciara Maher was our photographer at the game and you can see her pics here.