Longford Town take on unbeaten Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle grounds

Bray are flying near the top of the table while the new look Town team are beginning to get to know each other. 

After Longford’s great away draw against promotion favourites Waterford, the Town supporters had a chance to see recent recruits central defender Cian Byrne and midfielder Gary Armstrong in the 844 crowd and were so impressed with both players in their home debuts. Unfortunately for the Town management they had to plan without Derek Daly who had to be replaced after sustaining an injury in the RSC and he could be out for a few weeks but young Kyle O'Connor did a fine job on the left in a fast improving defence.

 The Longford Town management must be happy with recent performances with the exception of the opening game against Athlone but supporters shouldn't get too upset with that match as basically that was the lads first game together competitively. 

One has to compliment Stephen Henderson on his work in such a short time to put a team together and we can expect some very exciting games at Bishopsgate for the rest of the season. 

The recent signings and the loan return of Aodh Dervin has given this Town team a new lease of life and Stephen Henderson can go out against the favourites for promotion and expect to get good results. 

There is no doubt that Bray will be a tough nut to crack, especially at the Carlisle Grounds, but we did the double over them last season on their home patch. Saying that there was a lot of aggro within the club as the manager or general manager Pat Devlin was having his problems with a certain section of their supporters and they showed what they were capable of when they caused much damage at one of our home games. Hopefully that element is gone from the club this season and Bray are currently in joint second place in the table alongside Cobh.

To date Bray have beaten new club Kerry and Treaty and have drawn with recently relegated Finn Harps. They beat Treaty 1-0 in Limerick on the opening day of the season with Ben Feeney scoring the all important goal in the 89th minute. 

Bray then beat new club Kerry on a 3-1 scoreline. Central defender Cole Omorehiomwan was their hero with two goals with the other goal coming from the experienced Chris Lyons who joined the club this season from Drogheda United. 

Last weekend Bray travelled to play the new look Finn Harps at Finn Park and came away with a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw. Ryan Flood gave the home side the lead after 17 mins but Harry Groome equalised on 30 mins.

The Town beat Bray twice at the Carlisle grounds last season. The first win was a 2-1 victory with the opening goal for the Town coming from central defender Michael Barker in the 54th minute. Former Town favourite Rob Manley equalised on 80 mins but Darren Craven, who has returned to the Carlisle grounds scored a sensational winner for Longford in the 94th minute.

In the opening round of games the Town were at home to Bray and despite taking the lead after only 8 minutes through Sam Verdon, Bray struck back in the 21st minute when Curtis Byrne scored and in the 38th minute Paul Fox scored the winner for Bray. 

The other home game which was played in mid June ended in a 1-1 draw. Rob Manley opened the scoring for Bray in the 23rd minute but central defender Michael Barker equalised in the 42nd minute to share the spoils. The final game between the clubs was at the Carlisle Grounds and the Town had an emphatic 3-0 victory. Star of the day for the Town was Jordan Adeyemo who scored in the 26th and 52nd minutes and the goals were either side of a Sam Verdon penalty on 32 mins. 

Bray were always hard to beat over the years and this season will be no different. The arrival of the highly rated Ian Ryan as manager will be a huge boost to the club and you can see his influence on the team even after only three games.

The arrival of the experienced defender Dane Massey and striker Chris Lyons was a master stroke by Ryan who has made his new team difficult to beat and the seven points to date proves that point.

 The Bray bench in Finn Park had a familiar Town look about it with Conor Davis, Joe Power and Callum Thompson all  introduced as second half subs. 

Stephen Henderson will be hoping that his injury list will start to get a bit smaller in the coming weeks. As stated earlier Derek Daly is out again but could be back in the next few weeks. Young Aaron Walsh is also out with hamstring problems as is striker Cristian Mageruson and young Gavin O'Brien is also struggling to get into the match day squad due to injury also. 

One player who will be looking forward to Friday's game is Darragh Lynch who joined the Town this season and he came here from Bray. Darragh is a very talented young striker and he will be hoping to put one over on his old club.

After the two impressive draws against Waterford and Cobh, Stepehen Henderson will be hoping to get our first victory this season on Friday. 

This may be a very young Town squad but one can see them improve with each outing and we expect the strong midfield of Armstrong, Serdeniuk and our own Aobh Dervin to make a big impact in future games.