City looking forwards to Bray trip

DUBLIN CITY boss John Gill will be without long-term injury Brendan Kennedy and midfielder Terry Gleeson when he selects his squad for the crunch top of the table first division tie against Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds Friday evening, kick-off 7.45.

The Vikings dropped two points to Athlone Town last week in their 1-1 draw at Whitehall and will look to return to winning ways in Co. Wicklow, despite the difficulty of the assignment. "It's a massive game for both sides, but our away form has been excellent and we've nothing to fear if we perform to our abilities. It's a tough fixture but it's one we're really looking forward to the game," said Gill.

"We didn't do ourselves justice against Athlone and it was the poorest performance since our return to Whitehall, but we've worked hard in training during the week and we'll travel confident in our ability to take the three points on offer."

The club has signed John Brown from St James Gate as goalkeeping cover for Robbie Horgan after being granted a special dispensation by the eircom League to sign a specialist position outside of the transfer window. City lost the services of Brendan Kennedy when he broke his arm in the recent game away to Finn Harps and former Monaghan United netminder Brown was snapped up by Gill.

Terry Gleeson, meanwhile, is close to a return to first team duty after a lengthy absence with ankle ligament damage. Gleeson is short of match fitness and has turned out for the club's under 21s in an effort to get some games under his belt.

With City and Bray locked on 42 points at the head of the table, the game is certain to attract a bumper crowd to the Co Wicklow town with the host club having distributed 2500 schoolboy tickets for the game.

Kick-off is at 7.45pm