Dobbs scores in friendly loss to Bray Wanderers
BRAY WANDERERS gave Wexford F.C. a head start before stamping their authority on the League of Ireland’s second lowest-ranked side in this friendly in the Carlisle Grounds on Friday.
A superb breakaway goal from Aaron Dobbs gave Damian Locke’s side the lead, but a classy double from Ryan Brennan was added to by an assured late finish by Ger Pender to hand the Seagulls a deserved 3-1 win.
Aaron Greene then embarked on an early solo campaign as he spun out of a tight space and slalomed past a few challenges. He attempted a one-two with Brennan and it looked like he’d pulled it off until Ross Kenny slid in to brilliantly poke it behind for a corner kick.
Brennan’s next involvement involved less finesse as he burst onto a loose ball and, finding himself isolated, slammed it goalwards. It stung Danny Bolger’s fingertips but the custodian gathered it at the second attempt.
Greene then won a free kick on the edge of the area which McCabe looked to profit from but he beat both the wall and the crossbar with his 25-yard strike.
Wanderers coughed up possession clumsily in the 25th minute and ex-Seagull Adam Hanlon, who enjoyed two spells at the club, looked to punish his former employers as he injected some energy into proceedings and his rising strike from distance briefly had Lee Steacy worried.
Wexford were then guilty of inviting trouble on themselves. They weren’t fully focused from their own throw-in and Bray won it. McCabe threaded it through for Greene and he looked to drill it into the six-yard box but Owen McCormack stood up to be counted as he deflected it behind.
The visitors were really struggling to even get out of their own half but they did it emphatically in the 29th minute. They cleaned up a Bray attack and a sensational pass was fizzed out of defence to pick out the run of Aaron Dobbs. He got there ahead of Kenna and angled a superb finish across Kenna to the far post.
Parity was restored for a few miliseconds in the 34th minute. Moore chipped in from the left and Kenny, under pressure from Greene, sliced the ball into his own top corner. But Greene was adjudged to have been offside and the red quickly vanished from Kenny’s face.
Greene turned provider for Wanderers’ next opportunity. He whipped a free kick into the back post where Kenna had dropped off his man but his sidefoot volley was smothered behind by his marker.
Another set-piece almost provided joy for the hosts. McCabe’s flag kick fell to Brennan and he was able to juggle the ball for a few moments before off-loading it to Kenna.
He drilled the ball across the face of goal but nobody in a Bray shirt had taken the gamble.
Ryan Brennan did take that gamble and the subsequent chance it provided two minutes later.
Keith Buckley curled in a delicious cross from the right and it was met by an even more delicious back-heel from the youngest of the Brennan clan to level matters.
That goal was four minutes before the break and five minutes after the interval Brennan grabbed what would prove to be the winning goal.
Again, Buckley was the provider. He hugged the touchline and kept himself onside when a magnificent crossfield ball found him in time and space. He needed neither though as one quick touch allowed him to whip it to the back stick where Brennan’s diving header saw the ball hit the net.
The Drogheda native was almost celebrating a hat-trick in the 55th minute as he again used his forehead instead of his feet but this time Bolger would not be beaten and he tipped the effort onto the post.
Brennan was one of eight Bray players Harry Kenny withdrew in a 59th-minute mass exodus but Brennan returned to the fray with seven minutes to spare in place of the tiring Mark Salmon.
Inevitably, so many alterations drastically lessened the quality and tempo on display but the Seagulls still managed to add a third when Ger Pender rolled in from the edge of the area.
Wexford F.C.: Danny Bolger; Craig McCabe (capt.), Owen McCormack, Ross Kenny, Seán Hurley; Adam Hanlon, Mikey Byrne, Conor Sutton, Mark Slater; Dean Kelly; Aaron Dobbs. Subs. - Eoin Porter for Dobbs (60), Adam O’Rourke for Hanlon (60), Andrew O’Connor and A.J. Lehane.
Bray Wanderers: Lee Steacy; Hugh Douglas, Tim Clancy, Conor Kenna; John Sullivan; Keith Buckley, Mark Salmon, Ryan Brennan, Karl Moore; Gary McCabe, Aaron Greene. Subs. - Ryan Coulter for Steacy (59), Calvin Rogers for Douglas (59), Derek Foran for Clancy (59), Darragh Noone for Brennan (59), Jason Marks for Moore (59), Jake Ellis for McCabe (59), Jamie Aherne for Greene (59), Ger Pender for Sullivan (59), Ryan Brennan for Salmon (83).
Referee: Tomás Connolly (Dublin).