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Bray players celebrate (file pic). Oisin Keniry/INPHO
Upset

Bottom-of-the-table Bray end Derry's 9-match unbeaten run

A Ronan Coughlan secured a surprise victory for the struggling Premier Division club.

Bray Wanderers 2

Derry City 1

Daniel Gorman reports from the Carlisle Grounds

BRAY WANDERERS ENDED Derry City’s nine-match unbeaten run as a Ronan Coughlan brace claimed the Candystripes’ scalp.

Coughlan, who also got the winner as the Seagulls bested Shamrock Rovers, netted either side of a Nicky Low effort to earn his team a deserved three points.

Doherty had to be alert to prevent a goal after three minutes, when Cory Galvin’s over-hit cross threatened to ghost in.

Wanderers should have taken the advantage after nine minutes. Sean Heaney peeled off his man at the back post and Kevin Lynch’s right-wing corner found him. The ball begged for a decisive volley but instead the centre-half sliced it towards the half-way line.

Gary McCabe took the initiative minutes later when he picked possession up on the right flank. His eyes lit up as he spotted space in front of him and he charged into it before sending a shot swooshing across the face of Doherty’s goal.

Ex-Sheriff YC man, Daniel Kelly, couldn’t stay out of the action and the player was adamant that he deserved a penalty after being nudged in the back when trying to latch onto a cross, but John McLoughlin waved away his protests.

Bray’s pressure finally told though as their seventh corner bore fruition on the hour mark. McCabe whipped in from the left and Coughlan beat his man to the ball to nod home from six yards.

The lead lasted just three minutes, as Nicky Low spanked home into the bottom corner from 20 yards with deadly precision, but Coughlan wouldn’t be quietened.

Gary McCabe’s mazy run left a handful of Derry men in his wake before it was moved onto Dan McKenna. The substitute chipped a sublime pass into Coughlan’s path and he absorbed the ball with his first touch before tucking it past Doherty.

City almost spoiled Bray’s evening when John Cofie’s touch to Low’s corner took it past Moran, but Rhys Gorman was on hand to clear it off the line.

BRAY WANDERERS: Evan Moran; Hugh Douglas, Conor Kenna, Sean Heaney, Kevin Lynch; Paul O’Conor, Rhys Gorman; Daniel Kelly (Andy McGovern, 77), Gary McCabe, Cory Galvin (Dan McKenna, 68); Ronan Coughlan (Ger Pender, 89).

DERRY CITY: Gerard Doherty; Conor McDermott, Gavin Peers, Darren Cole, Jack Doyle; Rory Hale; Jamie McDonagh (Ben Doherty, 65), Aaron McEneff, Nicky Low, Ronan Hale (Ronan Curtis, 64); Rory Patterson (John Cofie, 77)

REFEREE: John McLoughlin.

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