- Sam McKeever
- Sat, Jun 17 2017
Bray hosted Derry City as both teams looked to close the gap on second place Dundalk at the Carlisle Grounds on Friday night.
The opening minutes were very cagey with Derry making the most of it but not being able to test Peter Cherrie in the Wanderers goal.
The first shot in anger came in the fifth minute when Darragh Noone struck the ball the well but Gerard Doherty got down well to the ball.
Moments later a ball into the box by Kevin Lynch was converted by Noone to make it 1-0 to the Seasiders. The Candystripes will they could have defended the goal better as Noone was left in plenty of space.
Bray was having the better of the game and in the 13th minute Gary McCabe beat the offside trap to go one-on-one with Derry keeper Doherty but was caught in two minds and hit it straight at the Derry keeper.
The Candystripes equalised soon later. A fantastically-weighted pass from Nicky Low split the Seasiders defence wide open and found Ronan Curtis who was composed enough to put a low shot into the bottom corner past Peter Cherrie.
Derry thought they had taken the lead as Barry McNamee cut inside on his left foot to put a delightful ball into Nathan Boyle, who put a diving header past Peter Cherrie, but the linesman put up the flag to the despair of the Candystripe support.
The Seagulls went 2-1 up on the stroke of half-time. A free kick on the left hand side saw Gary McCabe put the ball in towards the front post and Ryan Brennan got free to head past Gerard Doherty in the Derry goal, a soft goal for Derry to concede from a defensive standpoint.
Two minutes into the second half, Derry got off to the perfect start as they levelled the score. Nathan Boyle picked up the ball on the edge of the box and brilliantly swivelled to make space, and struck the ball with power across Peter Cherrie in the Bray goal.
The Candystripes started to take control of the second half as Josh Daniels drilled a ball into the box luckily enough for Bray Hugh Douglas got a vital touch to put the ball out for a throw-in.
In the 65th minute Ronan Curtis managed to cut-inside on his right foot but his effort was rushed as he put too much power on the shot going over the bar not troubling Peter Cherrie in the Bray goal.
In the 81st minute Bray got a vital goal to make it 3-2 with their first real chance of the second half as a corner from McCabe was flicked on at the front post and tapped home by Tim Clancy at the back post.
It was poorly-defended once again by Derry but they will feel hard done by as they were the team pressing in the second half.
The Candystipes had a late chance to equalize the game as Ronan Curtis had his strike bravely blocked by Hugh Douglas with the shot goalbound.
Aaron McEneff had a fantastic effort which looked destined for the top corner but Peter Cherrie was full stretch to keep the ball out of the top corner, to the delight of the Bray support who had their hearts in their mouths when the ball was struck.
A vital win for Bray to close the gap on Dundalk in second place and also ended a five game winless run for Harry Kenny's men.
Derry will be disappointed not to continue their unbeaten run to 11 games unbeaten after the summer break and will feel hard done by not to have at least gotten a draw from the game.
Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Hugh Douglas, Conor Kenna, Derek Foran,(Tim Clancy 57) Kevin Lynch; Aaron Greene, Darragh Noone, Ryan Brennan(Karl Moore 80), Mark Salmon, Gary McCabe; Anthony Flood.
Subs not used: Lee Stacy, Jason Marks, Jamie Ahern, Ryan Robinson, Ger Pender
Bookings: Kevin Lynch (16), Derek Foran (27), Mark Salmon (77).
Booked:
Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Conor McDermott, Dean Jarvis, Aaron McEniff, Nicky Low; Barry McNamee, Harry Monaghan(Ben Doherty 87), Ronan Curtis, Josh Daniels(Mark Timlin 83); Nathan Boyle, Aaron Barry.
Subs not used: Eric Grimes, Rory Patterson, Rory Holden, Ben Doherty, Scott Whiteside, Lucas Schubert.7
Booked: None.
Referee: Robert Hennessy.
Attendance: 799 (official).
Man of the Match: Anthony Flood (Bray).
