Bray Wanderers 2 Sligo Rovers 2:RAFFAELE CRETARO maintained his goalscoring streak against Bray with a double, though it was scarcely the result either side wanted given their placings in the bottom two of the table.
Cretaro has now scored five times against Bray this season, but has been on the winning side just once in their three meetings.
The fleet-footed striker punished hesitant defending by Dave Webster from Alan Keane’s long ball forward to race in behind and shoot past Chris O’Connor from just inside the area for the opener on six minutes.
Bray responded with a cracking goal to level in the 21st minute. Jake Kelly knocked the ball down for Dane Massey whose sublime half volley flew past Richard Brush from 20 yards.
The pace of Cretaro continued to trouble Bray as he stretched the home defence again on 37 minutes from Joe Kendrick’s pass to work O’Connor once more. And the Bray goalkeeper was there again to save at the feet of Matt Blinkhorn before being beaten for a second time on 43 minutes.
Bray captain Derek Pender’s back header fell short and Cretaro cleverly lobbed O’Connor for a cool finish.
Wanderers equalised again two minutes after the restart when Gary McCabe scored emphatically from the penalty spot after Keane had pulled down Kelly.
Bray had midfielder Dave Mulcahy sent off for a second booking following a foul on Cretaro 12 minutes from time.
BRAY WANDERERS: O’Connor; Doyle (Foran, half-time), Deans, Webster, Pender; McCabe, Mulcahy, Shields, Massey; Flood (Coughlan, 73 mins), Mulroy (Kelly, 19 mins).
SLIGO ROVERS: Brush; Boco, Keane, Camano (Peers, 57 mins; Cash, 81 mins), Kendrick; Morrison, O’Grady (Ryan, 57 mins), Ventre, Doyle; Cretaro, Blinkhorn.
Referee: T Connolly (Dublin).
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