BRAY WANDERERS maintained their push towards the upper echelons of the table with a fortunate victory over Drogheda United.

Drogheda will be disappointed they didn’t take a point from this one which would have seen them build on their first win of the season achieved last time out.  

A poor first half meandered along aimlessly for more than 20 minutes until Bray created the first chance of the match. The Drogheda defence fell asleep when Wanderers won a corner on the right which Gary Dempsey whipped in quickly for Danny O’Connor whose header down into the turf was turned away by keeper Stephen Trimble.

The visitors hit the front in bizarre circumstances on 32 minutes when Daire Doyle’s cross was turned into his own net by Stephen Quigley with not a Bray player in sight.

However, Drogheda should have gone in at the break level when Daragh McNamara and Dinny Corcoran combined brilliantly only for the latter to guide his shot wide when a goal appeared inevitable.

The second half followed a similar scrappy vein to the first for half an hour until Dempsey set up Dane Massey who drove his shot wide from an excellent position as Bray spurned an opportunity to make the points safe.

Six minutes from time United went close to an equaliser from McNamara’s corner which was met by Alan McNally who powered his header only just past the angle of post and crossbar.

DROGHEDA UNITED: Trimble, C O’Brien, McCrossan (Freeman 72), McNally, Ekanem, Quigley, M O’Brien, Gannon, Hanaphy, Corcoran, McNamara.

BRAY WANDERERS: Gregg, S O’Connor, Kendrick, Mitchell, Prendergast, Dempsey, Doyle (Zambra 89), D O’Connor, O’Neill (McGuinness 75), Shields, Houston (Massey 69).

Referee: P McLoughlin (Dublin)