Bohemians 1
Bray Wanderers 1
A RED CARD for goalkeeper Dean Delany, a serious injury to Jake Kelly and contentious refereeing summed up a testing Friday night for the home side in Dalymount Park.
A 20th minute penalty for Bray Wanderers, scored by Shane Byrne, gave the away side hope of pulling off a famous win but an 88th-minute equaliser from Dinny Corcoran proved vital for Bohemians who didn’t have this game all their own way.
Coming into this game, Bohemians were keen to get back to winning ways after a 1-1 draw with Dundalk last Friday night. Bray Wanderers on the other hand were coming off the back of a 5-3 loss to UCD.
A lively start by Bohs caused problems for the opposition, with a Karl Moore chance and a dangerous Craig Walsh cross, all under the first five minutes of the game, setting an early tone for the game.
Bray, to their credit, got a foothold in the game thanks to Dean Zambra, who had a chance saved after the 10th minute. Zambra turned sharply in the box but Dean Delaney was wise to it and got down low to save.
Bray’s target man Ismahli Akinade proved equally difficult for Bohemians centre backs Aidan Price and Roberto Lopes.
His link up play with Jake Kelly was one of the factors that led up to the biggest talking point of the game.
A high ball into the box found it’s way into the path of Kelly who twisted around Bohemians keeper Delany and was brought down for a penalty.
It got worse for Delany when referee Sean Grant awarded the Bohemians goalkeeper a red card. Shane Byrne stepped up to score the penalty to send the travelling Bray support into raptures.
The penalty was overshadowed by the injury to Kelly, however, who was stretched off with a suspected serious leg injury after the challenge.
Bray used the extra man to their advantage and pressed high up the field probing for a second goal. That hard work was nearly undone when Bohs had a header hit the bar.
Just before the half time whistle a dangerous cross from Bohemians left back Darragh Reynor found it’s way into Aidan Price in the six yard box but the centre back couldn’t convert the chance.
After the break the home team upped the tempo but a composed Bray had the better chances. A relentless Akinade hunted down Price to block his pass but he couldn’t direct his lob over sub keeper, Lee Murphy.
Bohs didn’t get deterred with Steven Beattie shining throughout down the right hand side.
On the 70-minute mark, a Kevin Devanney ball found Beattie away behind defender Robert Moloney who seemed to pull Beattie down. The resulting free kick came to nothing as the home crowd became restless looking for that elusive goal.
The Gypsies got their just reward for their relentless pressure with Craig Walsh and Dinny Corcoran teaming up to save the day.
Star midfielder Walsh found Corcoran alone in the box who duly obliged the space afforded to him and netted the equaliser.
Other results:
BOHEMIANS: Delaney, Pender, Price, Lopes, Reynor (J Byrne, 77), Beattie, Walsh, Byrne, Moore (Devanney, 67) Kavanagh (Murphy,22), Corcoran.
BRAY WANDERERS: McGuinness, O’Connor, Moloney (O’Neill, 77) Webster, Mitchell, Zambra, Byrne, Kelly (Scully, 27), Cassidy, Kelly, Akinade.