Point salvaged by seasiders

BRAY Wanderers came back from two goals down to salvage a point against Jimmy Mullen's Sligo Rovers at the Carlisle Grounds yesterday. In doing so, the seasiders put behind them a disastrous six game losing streak that has pinned them to bottom of the Premier Division table over the winter.

For Sligo, their chance to make ground on the title chasing pack lay in ruins but for all that, they nearly snatched a late victory when substitute Donagh Oats stranded the Bray keeper, John Walsh, with a dipping shot but the woodwork came to Bray's rescue.

The visitors were missing three players from the side that beat St Patrick's Athletic last week and the departure of Lewis Coady left James Mulligan carrying most of the burden up front.

However, within seconds of the kick off, Sligo's top scorer had brought his season's tally to seven to leave him just two short of Shelbourne marksman Stephen Geoghegan.

The move, ironically, began in the Sligo Rovers goalmouth, with Richie Parsons failing to convert a chance after 10 seconds and a quick clearance up field saw Padraig Moran put Mulligan in the clear. Mulligan underlined his class by side stepping Walsh before shooting in from a narrow angle.

Bray then went further into arrears when centre half Graham O'Hanlon lost possession in midfield. From there, Steve Futcher dispatched a long ball over the top to Mulligan, who held off a defender before blasting into the net.

That pretty much summed up the first half but with Steven Craig switching to man mark Mulligan in the second hall, Bray fortunes took a turn for the better, with Alan Dodd striking from the edge of the box on 56 minutes.

Four minutes later a shot across the goalmouth by Robbie Coyle deflected off Ryan Cross and into the path of Parsons, who duly availed of the opportunity to pounce for his sixth of the season.