Liam Buckley: 'We can't get any worse than that'

St. Patrick’s Athletic manager Liam Buckley admitted that his side’s 2-1 home defeat against a promising Bray Wanderers took him by surprise, but remained adamant that his side will not show as poor a performance again this season.

Harry Kenny’s side dominated proceedings for the opening hour and went 2-0 up thanks in no small part to a fine display from former St. Pats striker Anto Flood, who returned from Australia during the off-season to sign for the Seagulls.

Dylan Connolly sped away from defender Michael Barker on the right channel before cutting a cross back across goal for Flood to tap home for the lead in the first half.

Flood then turned provider on 65 minutes, holding the ball up with physical presence in the box before setting up Gary McCabe to fire low shot into the bottom corner of goalkeeper Barry Murphy’s net.

St. Pats provided a late rally when Graham Kelly blasted a loose ball inside the Bray penalty area beyond Peter Cherrie, however it would act as merely a consolation as a brawl broke out between both sets of players in front of the St. Pats technical area with minutes remaining.

Referee Derek Tomney sent St. Pats debutant Aidan Keena off for his initial sliding challenge on winger Connolly before also showing defender Darren Dennehy red after he and Hugh Douglas clashed heads in the aftermath.

“It was a late tackle from Aidan Keena, poorly timed on his part,” said manager Buckley.

“It probably was a red card in fairness. One or two referees might give a yellow but he (Derek Tomney) have a red. That said, Tim Clancy has grabbed Aidan Kenna by the throat. That’s a red card in itself.

“Then Darren Dennehy and Hugh Douglas came in and then went head-to-head. Our fella gets sent off for it, he didn’t. There was one or two other little bits and pieces but it was all handbags. It’s just unfortunate that we are two men down next week.”

The manager, who takes charge of his sixth consecutive season at Richmond Park, admitted the result was not expected following what he deemed a promising pre-season for St. Pats both by way of signings and on-field preparations.

“I just didn’t see that coming, to be straight. I thought we would have played a lot better this evening.

“There are a few areas that we can work on and chip into gear and we will have to do that quickly.

“It was a poor game and a poor spectacle. Bray caused us a lot of trouble lumping it forward and playing it long.

“We just didn’t start and we didn’t play well. The game passed us by in quite a few areas. It was just a poor spectacle.

“We will recover, trust me. We have a squad of players here where it will be two out and two in for next week.

“We’ve got a squad that is good in all areas. It’s the first game of the season so it is what it is. Bray weren’t much better than we were.

“We will have a look at the video in relation to where we are at and what we are supposed to be trying to do and trying to play and we will look to improve.”