League Preview: Cobh Ramblers -v- Bray Wanderers

Brian Maher smiles as he recieves a yellow card.

Brian Maher smiles as he recieves a yellow card. Credit: Al Robinson (ETPhotos)

BRAY WANDERERS

Bray Wanderers manager Gary Cronin can’t but be disappointed that his side have only accumulated three points out of a possible twelve and lie in 7th position in the 10 team First Division after four series of games.

While it is early days yet and there is plenty of time to recover, he will in particular be disappointed that they failed to find the net in two of their four games, recording 0-0 draws at home to Treaty Utd and away to UCD. While they did put three past Shelbourne, two of those came from on loan midfielder Brandon Kavanagh, and only Ryan Graydon of the forwards has managed to score so far, their single goal last weekend at home to Athlone Town came from a full back, Dylan Barnett.

Bray have dominated large stretches of their games so far, the second halves against UCD and Athlone Town in particular, but their slow starts will be a concern as when they fall behind they have found it difficult to come back on level terms, despite having a large share of the possession.

That was very much the case last weekend at the Carlisle Grounds against Athlone Town, with the visitors scoring twice in the opening quarter of an hour, both goals coming from the well-travelled striker Kurtis Byrne. While Bray did have a cracking goal courtesy of Dylan Barnett, they dominated the second half and were on the front foot for most of the second 45 mins, but were unable to convert possession into goals.

Brandon Kavanagh, Ryan Graydon and Conor Clifford are all very good technical players for Bray but while their build up play is impressive the team as a whole have found it difficult to convert their chances into goals in the opponent’s box.

Centre forward Gary Shaw went off injured early on in the Shels match while their other "number 9" Joe Doyle has been limited to substitute appearances in their last two outings having been injured at the start of the season – it will be interesting to see how Cronin shapes his striking department for this important match against Cobh this Saturday night.

COBH RAMBLERS

Cobh Manager Stuart Ashton will be reasonably happy with his side’s start to the 2021 season, apart from the 4-0 home defeat to UCD, they have been competitive in their other three games. The most southern League of Ireland club narrowly lost to Cork City in the Leeside derby at the start of the season, got a point away to newcomers Treaty Utd, and then secured their first win on the road last weekend, recording a good 2-1 away to bottom of the table Wexford Youths.

Cobh got off to a flying start in Ferrycarrig Park last weekend, Ian Turner and Chris O Reilly both having strikes on target within the opening five minutes. Ashton’s team took the lead in the ninth minute, Ciaran Griffin capitalising on a mistake at the back and firing into an empty net. Their second goal arrived just two minutes before half time, Killian Cooper with a tidy left foot finish past Wexford keeper Jimmy Corcoran from a tight angle.



Although Wexford piled on the pressure in the second half, with substitutes Success Edogun, Karl Fitzsimons and Karl Robinson all contributing to a better performance from the Slaneysiders.

Robinson did pull a goal back for Wexford - a header from Conor Crowley’s corner in the 83rd minute - but Cobh managed the end of the game well and picked up a huge three points to lift them up to 6th position in the table.

MATCH STATS

Bray had the upper hand on Cobh in their two clashes in 2020, drawing 0-0 in the home fixture in July but recording a 2-1 win away in St Colman’s Park in the September match.

In the three clashes between the sides in 2019, it was a more even outcome, they each won their home fixture 1-0 while the third clash was a 3-3 draw at the Carlisle Grounds.

BETTING



Cobh Ramblers 9/5

Draw 21/10

Bray Wanderers 13/10

PREDICTION

Cobh Ramblers 2 Bray Wanderers 2

Cobh Ramblers

Injured: None

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Bray Wanderers 

Injured: None

Doubtful: None

Suspended: Ryan Graydon

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