Great win for Seagulls against Derry City
TIM CLANCY may be planning for the future but he has enough concerns in the present to keep him occupied. The Bray Wanderers defender did not spend his midseason break flaking idly on a beach somewhere, he was in Scotland undertaking his UEFA A License.
Having turned 33 at the beginning of the month, the Co. Meath man knows that his playing career won’t last forever so he has begun to sow the seeds for when his legs begin to wane.
But before he can worry about his ageing limbs, he is worried about the 33 goals that his side have conceded thus far this season. His winning goal on Friday meant three points for the Seagulls but more importantly, it meant that Bray were not left cursing themselves – they twice lost the lead against Derry City.
“That’s the most important thing for us now. Leading into the break we had a run of bad results. Our performances – offensively – have been very good all season as the goals show but we’ve conceded far too many as the goals against show. It was a huge three points. It gets us back on the front foot again for next week.
“We showed character to go again after taking the lead twice and surrendering the lead twice. We went again and got the winner and it will give us a bit of momentum and it’ll be a very sore one for Derry. That’s only the fourth game they’ve lost all season I think and
we’ve beaten them twice so it shows how good a side they are.”
Clancy knows that Bray can’t rely on results like Friday every week. The sign of true champions is the ugly 1-0 win, something this side does not look capable of but nobody is more aware of Bray’s defensive woes than Bray’s defence.
“We’re trying things. I know there’s been a lot of different combinations in defence with lads being injured but we know ourselves that it isn’t good enough and Harry (Kenny) and Liam (O’Brien) let us know that it’s not good enough as well. We just keep getting dug out of a hole by the offensive players but hopefully now we’ll start keeping them out at the back and the lads up front will keep scoring and then we’ll have plenty more wins than losses.”
This win sees Bray leapfrog Derry into third – a spot that would guarantee European action. When that was put to Harry Kenny on Friday, he responded in typical good humour.
“It’s another three points away from relegation and it keeps us up at the right end of the table!”
And Kenny also reluctantly praised himself for the introduction of Clancy who was behind in his match fitness due to his commitments in Scotland.
“There was certainly 30-40 minutes in Tim so I thought it was – dare I say it – good management.”
Bray are next in action on Friday as they take on Galway United at the Connacht venue.