Bray Wanderers -v- Dundalk

• Finbarr O'Sullivan
• Thu, Apr 09 2009


It's eighth versus seventh in the Premier Division match at the Carlisle Grounds on Friday afternoon at 4pm, as Bray Wanderers host Dundalk.

The Seagulls go into this match on the back of a win and a defeat in the last week. After picking up their first victory of the season in a dramatic game against St. Patrick's Athletic last Friday, Wanderers were defeated by Sligo Rovers when they travelled there on Tuesday night.

The Lilywhites also have one win and one defeat from their last two games: they won 3-1 away to Sligo last Friday but lost 1-0 at home to ten-men Shamrock Rovers on Tuesday.

Speaking after Tuesday's defeat, Bray manager Eddie Gormley had mixed feelings on the performance: "Tuesday night was probably the best from a Bray team performance-wise in Sligo for a long time, but we stopped playing for about half an hour, not doing the things that had got us to where we are." Looking forward to the Dundalk game, he added: "The players now realise that they have to play for the ninety minutes. We will have to step it up on Friday, they are a very good side. We will be hoping that home form sees us through."

Dundalk manager Sean Connor is raring to go for this game: "Despite the injuries that we have, everybody in Dundalk FC are happy that we have a game so quickly after the Shamrock Rovers defeat on Tuesday night. We were a bit shocked after the game that we failed to pick up any points from a match that we totally dominated.” He added: “However, I am again delighted with the response in training. All the lads are enthusiastic and very much looking forward to the trip to Bray. It is obviously going to be a very tough game against a very good side. We are very confident that we can pick up our second successive away win despite the fact that Bray are very strong at home."

Bray will once again will be without the trio of Dave Mulcahy, Patrick Kavanagh and Derek Pender. Mulcahy misses out with a groin injury, Kavanagh is out with strained ankle ligaments and Pender remains out with a knee injury. Keeper Chris O'Connor is struggling to be fit and he will undergo a fitness test before the match.

Meanwhile, Dundalk will be missing Thomas Heary and Michael McGinlay. Heary is sidelined with a hamstring strain and McGinlay is recovering from an ankle injury.

The referee will be Anthony Buttimer.

Extratime.ie prediction: 1-1. Both sides will be going out to win this one. Both Dundalk's wins have come against teams in the bottom-half while Bray are still unbeaten at home.