Bray Wanderers 2  Drogheda United 2

     Two late goals from Brendan McGill and Joe Kendrick earned Drogheda United a point in a bad-tempered battle between the Premier Division basement clubs at Bray's Carlisle Grounds last night.
       Bray's Shane O'Connor and Drogheda's Jamie Duffy were red carded in the second half as the Seagulls lost a two goal interval lead lead that would have taken them off the foot of the table.
     Drogheda had an early chance when winger McGill cut in from the right only to see his effort pushed away by 'keeper Brendan Kane. From the rebound  John Flood crossed only for Ryan Brennan to head wide at the far post.
     Brennan had another chance on 15 minutes when Glen Fitzpatrick played a clever ball through to John Flood on the left only for Brennan to shoot wide when well placed.
       Bray might have broken the deadlock when Robbie Doyle burst down the right and crossed  only for fellow striker Shane O'Neill to slip before attempting a shot from 16 yards.
       Then a Jake Kelly corner on the right  was headed just wide by veteran Bray defender Colm Tresson as the Seagulls began to put some pressure on the visitors' goal.
        Drogheda did have the ball in the net on 35 minutes when a floated free from midfield by Brennan was headed home by central defender Jamie Harris only for the effort to be ruled out for offside by the assistant referee's flag.
        Bray again went close when another Kelly corner of the right was touched on by impressive midfielder Chris Shields only for defender Dane Massey to head narrowly wide.
       But it was the Seagulls who took total control with two goals in the final two minutes of the first half. First Dave Webster drilled over a cross from the right which took a deflection off defender Kendrick for Kelly to volley home from 12 yards.
        Bray stretched their lead in added time when Kelly blocked a Harris clearance and set up the chance for O'Neill to shoot past the advancing Paul Skinner in the Drogheda goal. 
         Bray defender O'Connor, booked early in the first half, was shown the red card by Clare referee Padraig Sutton on 53 minutes for a second bookable offence after a foul on Kendrick.
        With their numerical advantage, Drogheda almost pulled a goal back on the hour when a Kendrick corner on the right allowed Harris to get in a header taken off the line by the alert Tresson with 'keeper Kane beaten.
         Bray had another chance on 69 minutes when Kelly shot against the upright after a Doyle cross from the right. But it was Drogheda who made it a nail-bitimg finish when first McGill was on target on 79 minutes.
          The winger let fly left-footed from 24 yards after a probing ball into midfield from defender Corie Treacy. And the Drogheda fans were celebrating when Kendrick had the equaliser from the penalty sport just two minutes later.
          Tresson was judged to have handled to have handled a cross from the right by Kendrick and was booked for protesting the decision. Kendrick took the penalty himself and made no mistake when firing his spot kick past Kane.
         Even then, there was to be more drama when Drogheda's Jamie Duffy was red-carded in the dying seconds after a series of midfield flare-ups.    
                                  
     Bray Wanderers - Kane; S.O'Connor, Tresson, Webster, Massey; D.Doyle, Shields, Kavanagh, Kelly (Mulroy 69); R.Doyle, S.O'Neill (Georgescu 82) .
      Drogheda Utd. - Skinner; Treacy, McNally, Harris, Kendrick; B.McGill, Crowley, Daly, Brennan; Flood (Duffy 67), Fitzpatrick.
         Referee - Padraig Sutton (Clare).