Derry City 3 Bray Wanderers 2:STEPHEN McLAUGHLIN netted for the third time in three games as Derry City bounced back to defeat a dogged Bray Wanderers at the Brandywell last night.
Derry were played off the park in the first half by a determined Bray side who led 1-0 at the break thanks to a Kieran Marty Waters strike in the 42nd minute. If the truth be told, Bray could easily have led at the break by a bigger margin but Derry goalkeeper Gerard Doherty and centre-half Ryan McBride made telling blocks.
It took the home side an hour to get back into the game and when McLaughlin equalised with a superb header in the 59th minute, the home side sparked into life.
McLaughlin made it 2-1 when he got the benefit of a ball bounced by the referee in the 66th minute, but back came Bray to level following a short corner six minutes later.
Failing to guard against the corner, Dean Zambra’s deep cross found Danny O’Connor at the back post and he made no mistake with a downward header to level matters. But Derry won their third game on the spin in the 76th minute when centre-half McBride headed home from close range.
DERRY CITY: Doherty; Madden, S McEleney, McBride, McCaffrey; P. McEleney (McCallion, 83), Higgins, Molloy, McLaughlin; McDaid (Patterson, 53), Patterson (Farren, 94).
BRAY WANDERERS: Quigley; Webster (Bolger, 85), Massey, Mitchell (Kielty, 80), Sweeney, Zambra, O’Connor, Houston, Waters, Knight (Kelly, 74); Mulroy.
Referee: P McLaughlin (Monaghan).
