Bray Wanderers 1-0 UCD

[setanta]

The team

Just a comment on the line-out in your report, Pineapple. My observation was that Tony Mac was playing in the centre of defence and Hurley was in mid-field - that's why he had the opportunities for going forward.

Also, the miss from Dupuy in the second half was a shocker but the cross from the left, from Robbie Martin, was a super one. More of those needed.

Hurley looked very promising, he showed some fine touches and can dribble past opponents but he has to be able to make that final pass.

When Kenna is back (next week, hopefully), I'd put him in the middle of the back four, keeping Micko at left-back. Put Tony Mac back into the middle and try Hurley instead of Murphy on the right.

Murphy got plenty of ball on Friday night in the second half but he did'nt do much with it. You guys were over beside him, Pineapple, What did you think?

I agree that the second half performance on Friday was much better than against the Drogs but you must remember, the opposition this time was Bray, who are more hoof merchants than the Drogs.

Overall, a draw would have been a fair result. Bray did enough in the first half, with flashes in the second, to get at least one point. But a win for them was more than they deserved.

[Roo69]

Bugger all. What's your point? We dominated the entire second half and were the better footballing team when Bray were reduced to timewasting and being unable to string two passes together, so deserved a point anyway. Possession statistics would have been interesting and probably more relevant - I'd say 60% us?

d_informer - I'm sure centre mid supports the team, but the next time you're opening that dictionary, look up the difference between supporting and offering honest opinion. Think you'll find it's fairly big...!

I don't think you dominated the entire 2nd half really, yeah fair enough you probably had a bit more of the ball, but in fairness what did you do what it ? nothing if you can be honest. Bray had there own spells of pressure in the 2nd half, and again if your honest we had the much better chances and only for you keeper if could have been 3/4, He made great saves from Foxy, James and Lynch (Where as Our keeper did'nt have to make any proper saves in the whole match, one chance in the whole of the 2nd half which Dupuy headed wide).

From my point of view on over all play and chances i think Bray deserved to win - just.

[pineapple stu]

Wahey! I'm not going mad!

Hurley was an interesting one. He was wearing four, which put him in centre-back, but he seemed to switch between there and centre-mid frequently. I never really saw Tony Mac drop back to centre-back. I actually said during the game that it kind of looked like the Andy Reid/Damien Duff positional swapping thingy was going on, only between centre-back and centre-mid. Very confusing trying to watch! Still, he had a good game alright.

Anto Murphy did well - got past his man a fair few times. Didn't get any telling crosses in though - partly because he didn't have anyone to aim at really.

Kenna has to play centre-back, cos he's not a full-back. Micko had a very good game, and if Robbie Mac's not going to be back for a week or two yet, then keep him there, and drop...who? Podge? I'd still like to see Brian Gannon being given a run on the wing, as he's one of the few players we have who we know can beat people.

[Roo69]

College were all over them 2nd half. I don't think anyone reading this thread that wasn't at the game should leave thinking that Bray were even in the game after half time.

So were you at the match ?

Who had the better chances in the 2nd half ? Which keeper had to make 3 very good saves to keep there team in it ?

As i said, College had one real chance in the 2nd half which Dupuy fluffed

[pineapple stu]

Who had the better chances in the 2nd half? Which keeper had to make 3 very good saves to keep there team in it?

We've had this already - I don't think you can judge a game by which keeper had the saves to make. Bray attacked purely on the counter, and then only twice in the entire half. Apart from that, UCD were well on top but just couldn't break down Bray's often ten-man defence.

[Roo69]

We've had this already - I don't think you can judge a game by which keeper had the saves to make. Bray attacked purely on the counter, and then only twice in the entire half. Apart from that, UCD were well on top but just couldn't break down Bray's often ten-man defence.

But as i said, what good is possesion when you can't do anything with it ? UCD were none existant in the last 3rd for the whole game. how can you expect to get anything from a match when there is nothing upfront and no chances are created.

Points about the match.

- Bray had most of the 1st half.
- UCD had most of the 2nd half.
- Bray Keeper had no saves to make.
- UCD keeper had several saves to make.
- Bray defence were never really troubled for 90 minutes.
- UCD defence looked shakey when ever Bray pushed forward in both halfs.
- UCD manager made a strange decision not to make any subs even thou the players on the pitch could not create any chances of shoots on goal.
- Bray manager made subs at the right time, breaking up play and freshening up things.

I just think Bray deserved to win on the 90 minutes play.

[BrAyCMilan]

I thought that UCD deserved a point out of the game. Bray's passing was very poor. UCD got to grips with their passing in the 2nd half but Bray did manage to keep them at bay and limit their chances despite all the ucd posession.
My verdict was a luck 3 points for Bray in a poor game of football.
But at the end of the season, nobody will remember the type of game it was, just the three points on the league table! Thanks very much UCD!

[Schumi]

We deserved a point, probably no more than that given our lack of decent finishing. We had all the ball in the second half really but didn't do enough with it. Bray had a couple of chances in the second half (at least one great save from Quigley who looked much more sure of himslef than against Drogheda) but barely had the ball outside of that. Had Dupuy put away that header (still can't believe he missed), I don't think any Bray fan could really feel hard-done-by.