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Drogheda United -v- Bray Wanderers
- P.J. Murray
- Fri, Jul 17 2009
United Park will play host to a relegation six pointer on Friday night as Alan Mathews has a chance to move his side seven points clear of the drop zone. Alternatively Bray have a chance to make up some ground on the Boynesiders and avenge their 1-0 loss at the Carlisle Grounds earlier in the season.
Recent Form
Drogheda are currently on a six-match unbeaten run having taken 12 from a possible 18 points available and notched up a somewhat unexpected win over Derry City last week at the Brandywell.
The recent run has seen the pre-season relegation favourites move into the relative safety of the play-off spots for the first time this season, where as Bray have slipped to the bottom of the table after failing to pick up a solitary point in their last four league games.
Team News
Paul Crowley is the only injury worry for Alan Mathews ahead of Friday night’s game at home to Bray. The midfielder picked up a knock last week, but has since trained with the squad. Guy Bates hasn’t received his international clearance yet and will play no part on Friday night.
Central defender Chris Deans (heel) and striker Paul Byrne (knee) will both be absent on Friday night with speculation rife that influential midfielder Patrick Kavanagh will be benched following his decision to sign a pre-contract agreement with Shamrock Rovers.
Managers Comments
Alan Mathews remains focused on the task at hand and refuses to get carried away with Drogheda’s recent form. “Friday night is a chance for Bray to make up some ground on us. Bray will see this as a big opportunity for them and we will have to be aware of that. We take every game as it comes and Friday will be no different. We just have to focus on our own job and not worry about putting any distance between ourselves and them.”
Speaking about the win last week Mathews said, “That’s football, we have suffered ourselves this season, the loss at Dalymount, scraping a draw against Rovers. But it was a great result and now it’s done and dusted, we just have to look to the next game.”
Bray manager Eddie Gormley feels that Friday night is another big test for his side, he states “It was a good performance last week with two bad defensive errors which saw us give away two easy goals, Rovers didn't have to work for their two goals." He added "If we can perform like last week and cut out the mistakes we will be in with a great chance of getting something out of the game."
Recent Meetings
The sides have met twice so far, with Bray holding Drogheda to a scoreless draw at United Park back in March, while Drogheda took three points when they travelled to Wicklow in May. Brian King got the winner on the night, securing Drogheda’s first win of the season and starting the revival.
In their last five meetings Bray have won twice with Drogheda also claiming two wins and they have drawn once. However the visiting side have failed to score in Drogheda, having only taken a point away from Louth.
Extratime.ie prediction: 2-0 to Drogheda
About P.J. Murray
P.J. generally covers Drogheda games at HD Park and can generally be found at any Dublin ground when of a loose end on a Friday night.