Pure magic as Longford Town produce another tremendous comeback to beat Bray

Bray Wanderers . . . 2    Longford Town . . . 4

In a major boost for their hopes of reaching the promotion play-offs, triumphant Town were the better team in the opening twelve minutes without creating any chances.

Bray came more into the game after that and caused the Town problems with the combination of former Longford players Callum Thompson and Darren Craven especially impressive.

Wanderers had the first shot of the contest on twenty minutes when Thompson teed up Craven but he fired well wide from twenty-five yards out.

The home side took the lead three minutes later after a rare mistake from Town keeper Jack Brady. Again, Thompson was involved, and the ball came to Craven who unleashed a twenty-five-yard shot that was spilled by Brady and as striker Lyons was about to pounce on the rebound, the Longford stopper compounded his original error by fouling the Bray striker.

Lyons despatched the penalty to the net, sending Brady the wrong way to put the home side one-nil up. The Wicklow side should have doubled their advantage on twenty-seven minutes with the Thompson/Craven combination to the fore again, but Craven’s superb twenty-three-yard effort whistled narrowly past the post with Town keeper Brady well beaten.

The visitors eventually created some chances in the last ten minutes of the first half. On thirty-seven minutes, the tenacious Beineon O’Brien Whitmarsh won a corner. Joshua Giurgi picked out Lewis Temple with the corner, but Temple’s goal bound shot was brilliantly blocked by the Bray defence.

The ‘Red & Black’ missed a glorious chance to equalise four minutes before the break. Kyle O’Connor’s curling cross from the left found the unmarked Town striker Cristian Magerusan just six yards out from goal but the usually clinical Magerusan incredibly missed as his downward header bounced into the ground and over the Bray bar.

The last action of the first half resulted in Longford’s Derek Daly shooting wide from distance.

Longford fell further behind just three minutes after the resumption. Craven’s free kick was not cleared properly by the Town defence, the ball came out to Harry Groome and his brilliant low shot from just inside the box produced a magnificent save from Brady, only for Massey to slot home the rebound from close range.

The Town responded with another Magerusan header that just sailed wide of the far post and then  Ben Feeney almost got in for a third goal for Bray, but Town keeper Brady raced off his line to clear the danger.

Longford almost got back into the match on fifty-six minutes when Elworthy’s header from a Daly corner was cleared of the line by Bray defender Massey, and within a minute they came close again but Magerusan fired over from O’Connor’s cross.

A triple substitution from manager Stephen Henderson inspired the amazing Town comeback. Gary Armstrong, Mo Boudiaf, and Adam Wixted came on for the visitors and within five minutes, Longford were back on level terms.

On sixty-eight minutes, a dreadful mistake by Bray keeper Mathew O’Connor gave the visitors a lifeline. Max Murphy played the ball back to his keeper who inexplicably tried to dribble past Magerusan only for the Town striker to dispossess him and tap the ball into the empty net for his third goal in two games.

The visitors were level two minutes later. A clever chipped pass from Boudiaf was superbly headed down by Magerusan into the path of O’Brien Whitmarsh and he calmly stroked the ball past the Bray keeper into the bottom corner to make it 2-2. 

The introduction of another Town sub, Jordan Adeyemo, on seventy-four minutes also proved pivotal as the striker grabbed a brace of goals. 

In the eighty-first minute, Elworthy slipped in Adeyemo, and he calmly directed a low shot beyond the advancing Wanderers keeper Connor to make it 3-2. 

The sensational comeback was completed in the last minute of normal time as yet another sub, Olajuwon Adeyemo, played in his brother Jordan and the latter blasted home the Town’s fourth goal to seal another terrific victory in a repeat of much the same story in the taking of Treaty United at the Markets Field on Friday night.

High on confidence, the Town will be searching for another three vital points when they play Athlone at Bishopsgate on Saturday night next, kick-off 7.30pm. 

BRAY WANDERERS (4-3-3): Connor, Murphy, Hudson, Massey, Almirall, Groome, Quinn, Craven, Feeney, Lyons, Thompson.

Subs:- Crowley for Groome, Chukwu for Lyons (both 55 minutes), Mahdy for Feeney, Walker for Quinn, O’Sullivan for Thompson (all 85 minutes).

LONGFORD TOWN  (3-5-2): Brady, Elworthy, O’Brien, Temple, Hand, Giurgi, Serdeniuk, Daly, O’Connor, Magerusan, O’Brien Whitmarsh.

Subs:-  Armstrong for Serdeniuk, Wixted for Giurgi, Boudiaf for Daly (all 65 minutes), Jordan Adeyemo for O’Brien Whitmarsh (74 minutes), Olajuwon Adeyemo for Magerusan (86 minutes).

Referee: Declan Toland.