Bohemians 2 - 0 Bray Wanderers

• Frankie Lally
• Tue, Aug 17 2010


Bohemians shot back to third place in the Airtricity League table with a 2-0 win over Bray Wanderers at Dalymount Park on Tuesday night.

First and second-half goals from Raffaele Creataro did enough to secure the desperately needed points for the Champions, who had lost their last two league games.

Pat Fenlon made five changes from the team that lost to Galway United last Friday night in a bid to change The Gypsies poor home form.

Bray had failed to keep a clean sheet on 16 previous to Dalymount Park and they made it 17 on Tuesday, and in the process conceding their 57th goal of the season.

However despite being rooted to the bottom of the table Bray seem to have improved since Eddie Gormley's departure. They had won just two games under his guidance this season and now they look like a rejuvenated team.

The current Airtricity League champions came close to scoring twice early on, starting the game full of purpose and determination.

First Paul Keegan had his shot blocked by Bray's left-back Dave Webster and then moments later Paddy Madden saw his header sail over Matt Gregg's crossbar after a fantastic cross from Owen Heary.

Madden caused the Bray defence problems all night and came close to opening the scoring just minutes later but his header following Keegan's corner was yet again too high.

Despite the Gypsies good start they should have been a goal down after 20 minutes. Good work on the right by John Mulroy allowed Shane O'Neill to let fly with a thumping effort but he was denied by a fantastic save from Chris O'Connor in the Bohs goal.

Bohs were rewarded in the 31st minute for their good start after Ken Oman's headed clearance managed to makes its way all the way to Creatro who outpaced the Bray defence and finished expertly past Gregg.

In the second-half Bray came out the better of the two teams and Derek Prendergast really should have made it 1-1 in the 56th minute after he found himself unmarked in the Bohs defence following a corner, but he couldn't direct his header downwards.

Bray started to dominated from there and Jake Kelly had two glorious chances in as many minutes to bring The Seagulls level. The first came following a cross on the right-wing which found Massey, he then found Kelly but somehow the 21-year-old somehow managed to miss.

Then, just a minute later, he was denied by O'Connor who made an excellent save, diving to his left to block the low drive.

However for all of Bray's hard work they failed to find an equaliser as could really have gone two down in the 76th minute but Cretaro squandered a fantastic opportunity after good work by Gareth McGlynn on the right.

Cretaro was yet again at the heart of things just ten minutes later as he wrapped up all three points after he met McGlynn's cross from the right- wing, albeit with a slight deflection from Shane O'Connor.

Bohs saw out the rest of the game quite comfortably and move back to third in the table but they are still five points off leaders Shamrock Rovers.

Next up for Bray is another seemingly impossible task as they travel to league leaders Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght Stadium on Friday night, it's starting to look increasingly bleak for The Seagulls.

Bohemians: O'Connor; Heary, Powell, Shelley, Oman; Cronin, Burke [Quigley 89], Keegan, Brennan [McGlynn 64]; Madden [Byrne 64], Cretaro
Unused Substitutes: Rossiter, Quigley, B.Murphy

Bray Wanderers: Gregg; Webster, S.O'Connor, Prendergast Zambra; D.O'Connor [Shields 86], Dempsey, Mulroy, Kelly [Tuohy 89]; O'Neill [Massey 31], Houston
Unused Substitutes: Tresson, Kavanagh,

Referee: T.Connolly
Attendance: 1250 [est]
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Raffaele Cretaro [Bohemians]