Wanderers held to scoreless stalemate
SLIGO ROVERS BRAY WANDERERS 0 0
BRAY Wanderers fired blanks for the third match in a row as they nudged Sligo Rovers closer to the trap door.
In a dreary tie at the Showgrounds on Tuesday last, Sligo Rovers’ survival chances took a huge hit as they felt they left two points behind whilst the Seagulls’ European hopes faded further away.
The hosts came into this game desperate for victory, hoping to bounce back after an embarrassing 4-2 defeat at the hands of Longford Town in the FAI Cup on three days previous.
As for the visitors, they were looking to bounce back following their cup exit to Cork and five league outings without a taste for victory.
The Bit O’Red were second bottom coming as Wanderers rolled into town. Sligo were without a win in six league games so with both sides in equally dismal form, both managers will have been eyeing up maximum points.
A quick start from Harry Kenny’s side showed that relegation is really not on their radar, despite a difficult time off the field.
Rovers really should have taken the lead with just two minutes on the clock. Tobi Adebayo-Rowling’s cross landed in front of former Glenavon striker Greg Moorhouse, who appeared to just slip over it right in front of goal, barely troubling Peter Cherrie in the Seagulls goal
Although Gerard Lyttle’s men did enjoy better possession for a large period of the game, they never really troubled Cherrie in the Bray goal.
Wanderers’ best chance of the first-half came shortly after the half hour mark.
Mark Salmon rose highest to nod on a pass into the path of the onrushing Ryan Brennan, but he failed to get on the end of it, leaving Micheal Schlingermann largely untroubled in the Sligo goal.
Both sides offered little in terms of attacking threat in the second-half, with Rovers coming closest from a Rhys McCabe free-kick which took a deflection before drifting wide.
Gary McCabe forced a save from Schlingermann then, although the Mayo man was comfortable.
Substitute Kevin Lynch almost gave Harry Kenny’s men the lead in the dying minutes when his shot across goal just trickled past the far post.
The Wicklow men looked the most likely to nick a winner at the death, but neither side managed to really put pressure on the opposition goalkeeper.