Bray Wanderers 0
Bohemians 1
BOHEMIANS’ BRIGHT START to the SEE Airtricity League season continued as they recorded their third straight win thanks to Adam Evans’ second-half strike at the Carlisle Grounds.
Keith Long’s side returned to the top of the table on goal difference ahead of their meeting with second-placed Dundalk at Dalymount Park on Tuesday night.
They will be given a far sterner test by the defending champions than they were by Bray Wanderers on Saturday as Alan Mathews’ outfit remain without a point from three games.
The hosts will look back on Dave Scully’s miss moments after the interval as a decisive moment in the game.
Having been on the back foot for the opening half, the Seagulls should have hit the front but Scully, despite having had the freedom of the six-yard area, was unable to keep his header on target.
Otherwise, Bohs were in control of proceedings from the off.
Derek Prendergast had the ball in the net just before the half hour mark but was adjudged offside from Roberto Lopes’ low cross and Kealan Dillon then saw his sweetly struck volley come back off the upright.
Evans, who spent three seasons at Burnley, was the stand-out player on show as the tall and pacy winger proved to be a constant thorn in the side of Bray’s defence.
And it was the 20-year-old who provided the breakthrough on 70 minutes. The Gypsies were patient in the build-up and when the opening presented itself, Evans was there to clinically fire past Stephen McGuinness.
It was the winger’s second goal of the season after he found the net in the opening day win at Limerick.
For Bray, it looks set to be another season of toil as they struggled to impose themselves and were out-muscled during an one-sided contest by the seaside.
They travel to Longford midweek as they desperately search for a spark to ignite their season. Bohs will be hoping for more of the same in the weeks to come.
BRAY WANDERERS: Stephen McGuinness; Michael Barker, Jack Memery, Daniel O’Reilly, Alan McNally; Luke Gallagher, Ryan McEvoy (Emeka Onwubiko, 84′), Graham Kelly, Jamie McGlynn (Adam Hanlon, 46′); Chris Lyons, Dave Scully.
BOHEMIANS: Dean Delany, Derek Pender, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Roberto Lopez, Derek Prendergast; Keith Buckley, Dean Kelly (Marc Griffin 78′), Paddy Kavanagh, Anto Murphy, Adam Evans (Karl Moore 92′), Kealan Dillon (Robbie Creevy, 61′).
Man-of-the-match: Adam Evans
Referee: Robert Rodgers
