League Report: Bray Wanderers 0 - 0 Wexford FC

Match Report: Bray Wanderers 0   0 Wexford FC

Patrick O’ Connor

Scoreless draws can often be eventful and highly entertaining but this was not the case at the Carlisle Grounds on Friday night as Bray Wanderers and Wexford FC cancelled each other out in a 0-0 draw.

The highlights from this match were few and far between and it was not a game that will live long in the memory for either sets of supporters. Wexford will have been the happier of the two teams however as they picked up an away point but perhaps more significantly kept their first clean sheet of the season.

Bray’s aim to get their first home win of the season was not achieved and they will also be particularly concerned by their lack of goals, none in this match and only four in the six games to date. Wanderers did start the brighter of the two sides with their main attacking threat Callum Thompson causing a lot of problems for Adrian Friel down the left wing. Thompson played a lot of ball into the box but Bray were unable to capitalize on any of these.

There was an interesting duel between the two Manley brothers throughout the game, Rob at centre forward for the hosts and Joe and centre back for the visitors, the latter probably shaded it by helping Wexford keep that clean sheet. The second period followed the same pattern as the first, there was a long of ping pong with the ball in the air and little free -flowing football, neither keeper was seriously tested at any stage.

The Seagulls’s best chance fell inevitably to Thompson in the 52nd minute, he got past both Friel and goalkeeper Paul Hunt but shot wide with an open goal in front of him. Wexford, in turn, left Conor Davis up front as the lone striker and apart from an audacious lob in the 86th minute which just skimmed the crossbar, they never really put Stephen McGuinness to the test in the Bray goals.

Overall, a draw was a fair outcome, but the results elsewhere meant that both teams now drop from the top half to the lower half of the league table, Wexford in sixth position and Bray Wanderers in seventh.

Bray Wanderers: Stephen McGuinness; Daniel Blackbyrne (Sean Callan 68) Dean Zambra, Hugh Douglas, Jack Hudson, Callum Thompson, Darragh Levingston (Karl Manahan 80), Paul Fox, Keith Dalton (Conor Knight 80), Kurtis Byrne, Rob Manley (Darragh Lynch 75)

Subs Not Used: Michael Kelly (gk), Eoin McPhillips, Kieran ‘Marty’ Waters, Zak O’ Neill, Vilius Labutis.

Booked: None

Wexford: Paul Hunt; Aidan Friel (Thomas Considine 63), Paul Cleary, Joe Manley, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Adam Wells, Harry Groome, Jordan Tallon, Conor Barry (Evan Farrell 63), Conor Davis (Kevin McEvoy 86), Dinny Corcoran.

Subs not used: Alex Moody (GK); Conor Crowley, Luke Scanlon, Len O’ Sullivan, Eamonn Lalor.

Booked: Adam Wells (70)

Referee:  Kevin O’ Sullivan

Attendance:1,500 (estimate)

Extratime Player of the Match: Lorcan Fitzgerald (Wexford FC)