Athlone Town inflicted a first defeat of the season on Bray Wanderers and in doing so; proved their own title credentials. Captain Aaron Brilly guided them to three points with a well-taken first half strike and Bray were unable to reply against a s
Athlone Town inflicted a first defeat of the season on Bray Wanderers and in doing so; proved their own title credentials.
Captain Aaron Brilly guided them to three points with a well-taken first half strike and Bray were unable to reply against a stubborn Athlone defence. A 16th minute corner kick for Bray was initially cleared but nodded back in by Paul Keegan and Derek Daly momentarily turned target man as he tamed the ball and laid it off.
Doyle was the recipient of the lay-off but he blazed over. Right-back Nolan might have got himself on the scoresheet on 22 minutes. Bray broke incisively and sliced through Athlone to leave Doyle in possession on the left channel.
His cross worked out perfectly for Nolan’s late arrival onto the scene but unfortunately he fired over the crossbar. Despite being the superior side in the opening half hour, Bray had yet to hit the target and by the 31st minute, Athlone showed them how it was done.
Darren Meenan slipped a pass into Kealan Dillon who turned it to Aaron Brilly and the visiting captain slotted it cleverly past Sava. Falling behind seemed to suck a bit of life out of the Seagulls but Philip Gannon nearly re-energized them shortly before the hour.
McGlade’s corner was met by an Athlone defender but it looped into the sky and dropped kindly for the midfielder who caught it with a sweet volley. Unfortunately for Bray, it squirmed very narrowly wide.
Athlone defended cohesively and Bray were forced to resort to unlikely flicks and forcing the pass but they almost levelled via a free kick on 72 minutes. Richie Purdy’s initial strike was smartly saved low to his right by Aaron Myles and the shot-stopper did brilliantly to leap back to his feet and block Barnett’s follow-up.
With injury time approaching, Dylan Barnett whipped a right-wing corner to the near post and O’Halloran met it with a flicked header but it dropped over the far stick.
