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Saints ease to win over Bray

Friday 14th September 2007, 9:50 pm

Gary O'Neill celebrates with his team-mates following his opening goal.

Photo by Tom Carey.

Saint Patrick's Athletic eventually ran out 4-2 winners against relegation threatened Bray Wanderers at Richmond Park in Inchicore tonight.

The first chance of the game was Bray's with Gary McCabe forcing a great tip-over from Barry Ryan in the tenth minute.

It was indeed a bright start for the visitors with Andrei Georgescu firing a shot well wide after beating the home side's offside trap before Pat Kavanagh also dragged a shot off target.

Despite taking a while to do much with their possession the Saints had plenty of the ball and Keith Barker forced a great near post save from Steve Williams following a typically patient build-up.

Andrei Georgescu shadowed by Dave Rogers.

Photo by Tom Carey.

Barker went close with a header from a Fahey corner but you wondered was the absence of Joseph Ndo blunting the Saints creative play.

As just about everyone watched Barker threaten with another header in the dying minutes of the first half, referee Pat Whelan saw Gary O'Neill get dragged down on the goal-line.

The striker picked himself up and slotted the penalty past former team-mate Williams for the lead goal in the last minute of the half.

Bray responded after the break but Mark Duggan fired over as the game went dead a little. The next real chance saw the Saints go 2-0 up through Barker just before the hour.

Keith Barker under pressure from Bray defenders Ray Kenny and Ronan Ivory.

Photo by Tom Carey.

He stole in on a mis-hit shot and controlled well just inside the box before dispatching a left footed drive past Williams.

An effort from McCabe threatened until Stephen Paisley headed away but Pats looked to have the game won on 66 minutes.

Just seconds earlier Fahey had almost deceived everyone with a smartly struck near post free kick but another well worked Fahey set-piece saw Billy Gibson make it 3-0.

Fahey played a corner short to Michael Keane who in turn found John Frost. The full back floated in a cross and Gibson slid home Paisley's flick-on from close range.

Billy Gibson slides home to make it 3-0.

Photo by Tom Carey.

Bray didn't look like getting much back in the way of even a consolation but stayed reasonably disciplined in defence. However, Glen Fitzpatrick might have made it 4-0 when his effort crashed against the crossbar before bouncing down just the right side of the line for Bray.

Pat Kavanagh fired home a superb goal for Bray on 86 minutes as he took advantage of slack defending. The Bray man gave Ryan no chance with his stinging shot to the top corner.

It looked as though the Saints had the last laugh when Keane drilled home a free kick to the top corner of Williams' net to make it 4-1 two minutes into injury time.

Still there was time for Bray to grab a second consolation when Paul Dunphy slotted home following a scramble.

The result sees the Saints stay in the race for at least second place in the Premier Division and confirmed their home form has survived despite their recent overall down-turn.

St. Patrick's Athletic : Ryan, Brennan (Murphy 80), Frost, Rogers, Paisley (C Foley 87), Gibson, Kirby, Keane, Fahey, Barker (Fitzpatrick 77), O'Neill.
Bray Wanderers : Williams, Cronin, Kenny, Delaney, McCabe, Hurley, Ivory, Kavanagh, Caffrey (O'Shea 68), Fox (Duggan 39), Georgescu (Dunphy 57).