Dundalk -v- Bray Wanderers

• Raymond Denning
• Thu, Aug 18 2011


Dundalk welcome Bray Wanderers to Oriel park on Friday evening, with both sides looking to mount a late surge up the Premier Division standings. (Kick off, 7.45pm)

Dundalk begin the match in sixth position, two points ahead of the Seagulls with a game more played. They also have had the better of the two previous meetings between the sides this season; taking four points from the six available. The clubs played out a 0-0 draw at Oriel Park in April; while a Mark Quigley hat-trick helped Dundalk to an emphatic 5-1 win at the Carlisle Grounds back in June.

This match will mark goalkeeper Peter Cherrie’s 75th league appearance for the Louth outfit. However, the Lilywhites will be without the injured trio of Eoghan Osborne (fractured tibia), Stephen McDonnell (knee) and Colin Hawkins (hamstring) for the match. Defender Nathan Murphy is also a doubt.

Dundalk manager Ian Foster was cautious despite their recent good record against their opponents:  “We managed to beat Bray comfortably in the last game but that means nothing going into this Friday,” he said.

Turning his attention to the remaining ten games of the league season, Foster said: “It’s all to play for. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs between now and the end of the season. Hopefully, more ups. But one thing that my players are is totally committed, and they’ll give it everything they’ve got in the remaining games of the season.”

Bray Wanderers come into the match with confidence, on the back of a convincing 4-0 home victory over basement side Galway United last Friday, and have only lost twice on the road all season. Skipper Gary Dempsey and Kieran Marty Waters are rated as doubtful for the visitors with back and groin strains respectively.

Bray’s Director of Football, Pat Devlin was hopeful of his side’s chances of taking something away from Oriel Park: "It will be a tough assignment against Dundalk, they gave us a bit of a hiding the last time we met, but we have a good record in Oriel Park and we hope to keep that going.”

He also said his team needed to push on and accumulate as many points as possible from the league run-in following their win last week, which was their first win in three attempts.

Dundalk
Injured: Eoghan Osborne (fractured tibia), Stephen McDonnell (knee), Colin Hawkins (hamstring).
Doubtful: Nathan Murphy (toe).
Suspended: None.

Bray Wanderers
Injured: None.
Doubtful: Gary Dempsey (back), Kieran Marty Waters (groin).
Suspended: None.

Referee: Dave McKeon.
Paddy Power Odds: Dundalk 8/11, Draw 5/2, Bray Wanderers 7/2.
Extratime prediction: Dundalk 2-1 Bray Wanderers.