- Dave Donnelly
- Tue, Sep 22 2015
Brandon Miele's late thunderbolt free kick spared Shamrock Rovers' blushes as they overcame Bray Wanderers by a solitary goal at a poorly-attended Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday evening.
The former Newcastle United trainee drew a foul from Hugh Douglas on the perimeter of the Bray box and with two minutes remaining in the match smashed the subsequent free kick over the wall and into the top corner to ensure the Hoops remain theoretically in the hunt for second spot.
The home side, who began the game in third place in the league table and in the final automatic European qualification spot, badly needed to win in order to keep distance between themselves and fourth placed St. Patrick's Athletic. The Hoops began nervously and struggled to find any sort of rhythm against their comparatively assured opponents.
Dave Cassidy already had forced a goal-saving clearance from Rovers captain Conor Kenna and striker Chris Lyons had blasted over for Bray from distance. Lyons also forced the first save of the match with almost half an hour played, turning Max Blanchard easily and forcing Barry Murphy to tip over the bar.
Rovers boss Pat Fenlon made three changes from the side that lost 1-0 in Derry on Friday night, with Kenna, Damien Duff and Stephen McPhail coming in for Gareth McCaffrey, Pat Cregg and the injured Luke Byrne.
Bray's Mick Cooke made two changes of his own to the side that played out an entertaining draw with Limerick on Saturday evening, with Hugh Douglas returning from suspension in place of Daniel O'Reilly while Adam Hanlon replaced Peter McGlynn.
Duff gave a demonstration of his skill with a beautiful lofted pass that almost sent Mikey Drennan clear on goal, but a superb covering tackle from Michael Barker nudged the ball away just as the former Aston Villa man looked primed to open the scoring.
Graham Kelly was finding plenty of room as Hoops midfielders Gary McCabe and Stephen McPhail committed further up the pitch and, after forcing a corner with a speculative shot, his set-piece found the free head of Douglas, but the former UCD man could only glance across goal.
Those expecting an injection of pace from the home side after half-time were to be bitterly disappointed, although Rovers did produce the first chance of the second-half as Duff latched on to Dave O'Connor's long pass and he should have at least forced a save from Peter Cherrie.
Adam Hanlon forced a routine save from Murphy before the Hoops, breaking quickly, worked Drennan into a similar position, but his shot was straight at Cherrie and the Scotsman saved easily at his near post.
Gavin Brennan forced a much better stop from the former Dundalk netminder just after the hour, as he took the initiative and cut inside before shooting powerfully, to which Cherrie needed to be at full stretch to tip it over the bar.
Fenlon withdrew Duff – who struggled to impose himself in attack or defence – bringing on Danny North in an attempt to gain a cutting edge up front, but a familiar pattern emerged as the Seagulls were again unlucky not to draw the first goal of the game.
Cassidy – who terrorised O'Connor all evening despite giving away all of half a foot to the defender – once again turned his opponent with ease and drove into the box before squaring for Ryan McEvoy, but the midfielder couldn't steer his first-time shot on target.
Drennan's frustration got the best of him as the game wore on and he was lucky not to see a straight red card when he lunged two-footed on Cassidy, but he remained on the pitch and provided the decoy run that led to Miele winning the match with his decisive free kick.
Cassidy could – and indeed, should – have levelled in injury time when he again left O'Connor for dead inside the box and shot across Murphy from close range, but the ball was always curling away from goal and Rovers hung on for a much-needed three points.
Shamrock Rovers: Barry Murphy; Simon Madden, Conor Kenna, Max Blanchard, David O'Connor; Stephen McPhail (Pat Cregg 72), Gary McCabe (Ryan Brennan 90), Gavin Brennan, Damien Duff (Danny North 68), Brandon Miele; Mikey Drennan.
Subs: Craig Hyland, David Webster, Dylan Kavanagh, Gareth McCaffrey.
Booked: Mikey Drennan (82).
Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Hugh Douglas, Alan McNally, Niall Cooney, Michael Barker; Ryan McEvoy, John Sullivan, Graham Kelly, David Cassidy, Adam Hanlon (Adam Wixted 82); Chris Lyons (Dave Scully 80).
Subs not used: Sean Fogarty (gk), Daniel O'Reilly, Luke Fitzpatrick, Gareth McDonagh, Peter McGlynn, ..
Booked: Alan McNally (61).
Referee: Paul Tuite.
Attendance: 1,000 (estimate)
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: David Cassidy (Bray Wanderers).
