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Bohs back up to third after battling win over Bray

Monday 9th July 2007, 9:59 pm

Stephen Rice scored the second goal to kill off Bray's challenge.

Photo by Tom Carey.

Bohemians reclaimed third place in the Premier Division of the eircom League of Ireland tonight with a 2-0 win over Bray Wanderers at Dalymount Park. Goals in either half from Kevin Hunt and Stephen Rice gave Bohs the three points they needed to climb back ahead of Shamrock Rovers.

Starting under a heavy shower of rain both sides started slowly although Rice fired narrowly over in the sixth minute after a nice lay-off from Neale Fenn. At the other end Bray's Gary McCabe got in after a surging run but his shot was easily saved by Bohs keeper Brian Murphy.

Bohs countered quickly after Bray's Stephen Fox tumbled in the box under a great Dean Pooley tackle back. A poor first touch from Crowe meant that the counter attack only produced a tame shot at Steve Williams' goal.

The deadlock was broken on 28 minutes when a long ball out of defence undid Bray's back-line. Owen Heary's long ball over the top found Crowe and although he again stumbled a little with his touch, he recovered enough to chip a ball past the out rushing Williams and into the path of Kevin Hunt. The Bohs skipper connected with his volley and forced the ball home off the leg of Stephen Gough.

Pooley made another vital interception to take the ball away from Mark Duggan as he attempted to collect McCabe's lay-off just minutes later. Liam Burns and Dessie Byrne found themselves booked before the break and while those decisions seemed harsh, Fenn and Owen Heary escaped bookings for much worse looking infringements.

Bohs again started well in the second half and Williams had to be off his line quickly to scoop the ball away from Rice's feet after an early Bohs attack.

The introduction of Patrick Kavanagh for his Bray debut on the hour injected some life into the visitors' attack. Almost instantly he combined well with Andrei Georgescu and although they didn't manage to fire away a shot, Owen Heary was forced to clear behind for a corner.

James O'Shea looked to be in behind the Bohs defence as he chased a through ball but unfortunately for him, he lost his footing before he could claim the ball and Murphy scooped up the loose ball.

Alan Cawley's 75th minute free kick was about as close as Bray went all night. His dipping shot forced Bohs keeper Murphy to tip over for another corner kick. However, Bray struggled to create anything from almost all their other set-pieces with Cawley in particular struggling with a couple of free kicks.

The game was decided in the 76th minute as another long Bohs ball out of defence undid Bray. Conor Powell fired the ball forward and almost without looking at goal Rice volleyed at the target with the outside of his foot. Williams was stranded as Rice's speculative effort dropped in under the bar and Bohs were 2-0 up.

McCabe had a deflected shot saved by Murphy in the closing ten minutes as Bray battled to earn even a consolation goal from the game. Had a Bray foot connected with Kavanagh's low shot across goal in the closing minutes then maybe the closing moments would have been tougher for the home side. Instead, Mark Rossiter almost wrapped up the win in the 90th minute as he drilled a shot just past Williams' upright.

Bohs continue their impressive defensive run and remain well placed to launch a title challenge. Next up for them is Drogheda on Friday while Bray will entertain Derry City.

Bohemians : Murphy, O Heary, Powell, Burns (T Heary 68), Pooley, Hunt, Rice, Harkin (Rossiter 60), Byrne, Fenn (Mansaram 73), Crowe.
Bray Wanderers : Williams, Cronin, Gough (Dunphy 77), Delaney, Deans, O'Shea, McCabe, Duggan (Hurley 84), Cawley, Fox (Kavanagh 60), Georgescu.