Bray outclassed by stylish and clinical Swiss

As a contest the tie was finished two weeks ago when Bray were killed off with two goals in the closing 12 minutes, so last night's return leg of the this UEFA cup clash was never likely to be edge-of-the-seat stuff.

For Wanderers, the Irish game's great educators, the target after the first leg was to salvage some pride while allowing some of their youngsters the opportunity of measuring themselves against a quality group of Europeans. Afterwards Pat Devlin admitted that all he hoped for was that they had learned something from the experience for, in both games, he conceded "we were simply outclassed".

For the visitors' the game plan was apparently to win while having a bit of a knockabout and there was certainly no questioning their success on that front. The outcome was hardly a surprise for, with a record 25 league championships to their credit, Grasshoppers came to Ireland with a sprinkling of internationals to show off as well as a number of talented individuals who know how to play quality football. As if it was ever in doubt, they underlined their superiority last night with a goal from Avraham Tikva after just five minutes. It was the general quality of their play that was so impressive about Roy Hodgson's team rather than the number of times they found the net.

Apparently treating the outing like an exhibition - their most famous player, Stephane Chapuisat, was, for a start, languishing on the bench - the visitors pushed the ball around with a coolness that endlessly frustrated a Bray side which had clearly hoped to hassle them at every turn while they were in possession.

Through on every area of the pitch the Swiss were running the show, most of their players took the opportunity at some point to show the 1,500 or so spectators a little bit of what they could they could do with the ball at their feet.

As they had been in the away leg two weeks ago, Wanderers were made to look particularly exposed down their left flank and after Tikva's opener had come by way of a Reto Zanni jaunt through the centre, it was with a succession of balls from that side of the pitch that the bulk of the remaining damage was done.

Seven minutes before the break Patrick De Napoli's ball towards the six yard box set up Tikva for his second and eight minutes later Boris Smiljanic fed De Napoli for number three.

Andre Muff rounded it off 11 minutes later by which time the visitors had really eased up completely. With more space to play in and against a team who seemed to reckon that their night's work was done, Wanderers began to figure more prominently in the creation of chances department with one Frankie Larkin figuring most prominently of all.

His chipped ball from a tight angle on the left forced Stefan Huber into making his only real save of the night when the goalkeeper managed to touch the ball on to the top of the crossbar. The youngster had an even better chance in the closing minutes but, arriving late at the far post, his header was well off target.

Linfield drew 1-1 with Lokomotiv Tbilisi at home last night, bowing out 2-1 on aggregate. After equalising on aggregate in the 68th minute with a David Larmour goal, they were hit by a sucker punch 11 minutes from time when Levani Kebadze ran through to slot the ball past goalkeeper Paul Mathers.

Bray Wanderers: Walsh; Tresson, Doohan, McKeever, Farrell; Kenny, Tierney, Fox, Byrne; O'Brien, Smyth. Subs: Power for Smyth (69 mins), Larkin for Kenny (70 mins), O'Connor for McKeever (76 mins).

Grasshoppers: Huber; Zanni, De Nicola, Gren, Smiljanic; Isobella, Cabanas, Hodel, Magro; Tikva, De Napoli. Subs: Muff for Tikva (61 mins), Seimeter for Isobella (65 mins), Schweiger for Smiljanic (68 mins).

Referee: Anton Stredak (Slovenia).