- Shaun Keenan
- Sun, May 29 2016
In what was an unusual Sunday afternoon fixture in the Premier Division at the Brandywell it wasn’t an unusual scoreline at full-time as Derry City won 2-0.
Both sides looked comfortable during the opening minutes and looked to embrace the sunshine with attacking football. It looked like Bray Wanderers would get the opening goal when Dylan Connolly was through as the Derry defence fell asleep, but captain Ryan McBride recovered and intercepted the ball before Connolly could pull off the shot.
If you thought Bray would go on from that early attack you would be wrong. It would be Derry City who would confidently get the first goal of the game after just six minutes.
Nathan Boyle swept down the right hand side before having a cheeky attempt on goal, which surprisingly beat goalkeeper Peter Cherrie, but it could only hit the inside of the post. The Candystripes would still get their reward when Joshua Daniels was there to give them the lead with the rebound.
It was all Derry and Bray were struggling to get out of their own box as the home side were pushing for their second within 15 minutes.
It wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ for Kenny Shiels' side and they doubled their lead after 20 minutes of play.
Sean Harding was struggling to defend against a confident Daniels down the left-hand side and it went from bad to worse for Bray when Aaron Barry played a lovely throughball into Boyle, who was in for the sick Barry McNamee.
It would be long way back for Harry Kenny’s side as Boyle got to the ball before Cherrie, but he still had it all to do as the ball seemed to get away from the 22 year old.
However, Cherrie couldn’t get back to his line on time and Boyle put the ball into an empty net to double Derry’s lead.
It almost got better for Boyle, who could have had two goals in quick succession when put through again. This time he could only put the ball over the bar, all to the frustration of Conor McCormack who was waiting for the cut back.
Bray were struggling to create anything, even when Derry slowed the pace. Gareth McDonagh made a decent run down the right-hand side past Dean Jarvis, but there was no significant danger incoming and Ger Doherty caught the cross comfortably.
One stand out from the first-half was Joshua Daniels who was playing extremely well. The local man continued to give Harding a difficult time and he should have had an assist when he crossed a great ball into the area to an unmarked Lukas Schubert, but the Austrian headed it wide.
Just before half-time Derry had another great chance to get their third. Doherty's clearance made its way to Schubert who controlled the ball beautifully before taking it past Alan McNally easily. The Austrian laid the ball off to Keith Ward on the edge of the area, whose attempt flew just wide.
Derry started the second half with the same attacking intent as they did in the first, but though a third goal seemed imminent, they couldn’t break down the shaky Wanderers defence.
After 54 minutes Aaron McEneff played a fantastic over the top ball to Schubert. The recently signed midfielder crossed the ball into an incoming Daniels. The cross proved too high for Daniels, but Ward was at the back post to recover the ball before returning it to McEneff on the edge of the area for a shot, but former the Spurs man could only put the ball over the bar.
Schubert was picking up were Daniels left off in the first-half. He played a clever cutback to Niclas Vemmelund who got his shot away, but he couldn’t deliver a third goal.
Ten minutes later Bray out of nowhere should have pulled one back. Connolly met the cross from the corner, but Doherty made his first real save of the match to keep Derry’s two-goal advantage intact.
Bray knew they had to go for the game now, but the risk almost proved too much and their defence was almost caught on the counter-attack.
Daniels was the source of the attack again and he played through Ward who was too far from goal to go himself, so he played a fantastic ball into the area for Boyle who once again failed to double his tally.
The chances were many for Shiels' men, but Derry were beginning to settle for their two-goal lead and the Seagulls were beginning to get themselves into the game. It would still be an uphill battle for Bray, but Connolly was beginning to look like Wanderers' only hope for a goal.
The former Shelbourne winger was in the thick of things again when he bypassed Vemmelund easily and put it on a plate for the incoming Robbie Creevy, who was free in front of goal, but he couldn’t deliver and Doherty's cleansheet remained intact.
Boyle and Daniels linked up well together all game and once again the partnership nearly provided another goal. Boyle delivered a fantastic ball directly to Daniels, but the side-footed effort never challenged Cherrie and went wide.
The Brandywell faithful almost got the third goal they craved when a McEneff effort from close range went past Cherrie only to hit the inside of the post.
It was another good attacking performance from the Candystripes who now sit in third position, ten points behind leaders Dundalk.
Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Niclas Vemmelund, Dean Jarvis, Aaron Barry, Ryan McBride; Aaron McEneff, Conor Mc Cormack; Keith Ward (Rory Holden, 81), Lukas Schubert, Joshua Daniels (Ryan Doherty, 83); Nathan Boyle (Jordan Allan, 81).
Subs not used: Shaun Patton, Patrick McClean, Conor McDermott, Ronan Curtis.
Booked: Rory Holden (88).
Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Sean Harding, Conor Kenna, Alan McNally, Jason Marks (Hugh Douglas, 67); Ryan Brennan, Mark Salmon, Robbie Creevy, Dylan Connolly; Gareth McDonagh (Ger Pender, HT), Dean Kelly (Andrew Lewis, 62).
Subs not used: Aaron Shanahan, Alan Byrne, Daniel Blackbyrne, Darragh Noone.
Booked: None.
Referee: Paul McLaughlin.
Attendance: 1,000 (estimate).
Extratime.ie Man of The Match: Nathan Boyle.
