Drogheda United 0 - 1 Bray Wanderers

A Stephen Quigley own goal proved to be the difference between the teams in a game that to describe it as poor would be doing it a favour. If the ball is your friend in this game then both of these teams must have had some falling out with it over the weekend.

The game started slowly with a multitude of misplaced passes and no shortage of effort in midfield generally stifling any attempts at attacking play. Alan McNally had to be at his best on 11 minutes to slide in to take the ball away from Shane O’Neill as the visitors broke into the Drogheda box.

Bray should have opened the scoring on 24 minutes as a quick corner from Gary Dempsey found Danny O’Connor eight yards out with a free header but Steven Trimble got down to his right to turn it away for a corner.

Bray eventually broke the deadlock on 33 minutes when Gary Dempsey played Daire Doyle in behind the Drogheda rearguard in the inside right slot. Unselfishly he tried to square the ball for better placed colleagues only for the unfortunate Stephen Quigley to knock the ball past Steven Trimble in the Drogs goal despite Victor Ekanem's desparate efforts to keep the ball out.

The Drogs should have drawn level when good work by Darragh McNamara drifting in from the left presented Dinny Corcoran with a clear shooting chance on the edge of the box but he placed his effort wide of the post.

If we thought the first half was bad the second topped it in plumbing new depths. In all honesty very little happened to stir the senses until the 79th minute when Gary Dempsey sent in Dane Massey in the inside left slot but he pulled his shot wide of the goal when he should have done better.

Drogheda had a chance to draw level on 84 minutes as a McNamara corner found Alan McNally with a great leap six yards out but he directed his header wide.

Bray had one last chance to settle the game when a Dempsey corner was flicked on by Danny O’Connor, the header beat Trimble but was cleared from the line by Quigley. So Bray take the points and look forward to playing a free falling Galway in the league whilst Drogheda will try to get their season back on track with a trip to local rivals Dundalk.

Drogheda United: Steven Trimble; Colin O’Brien, Alan McNally, Victor Ekanem, Stephen Quigley; Stephen McCrossan (David Freeman 72), Brian Gannon, Mark O’Brien, Darragh McNamara; Darragh Hanaphy, Daniel Corcoran.
Subs not used: Paul Murphy, Robbie Gaul, Sean Skelly, Keith Murray, Ger Sweetman, Sean O’Rourke.

Bookings: D McNamara (51).

Bray Wanderers: Matt Greg; Shane O’Connor, Joe Kendrick, Adam Mitchell, Derek Prendergast; Daire Doyle (Dean Zambra 89), Gary Dempsey, Danny O’Connor, Chris Shields, Sean Houston (Dane Massey 69); Shane O’Neill (Dan McGuinnes 75).
Subs not used: Brian Kane, Colm Tresson, Stephen Last, Graham Kelly.

Bookings: D Prendergast (20), A Mitchell (45), D Massey (92).

Referee: Paul McLaughlin.
Attendance: 450 (estimate).

extratime.ie Man of the Match: Gary Dempsey.