Difficult mission for Longford Town in quest for a positive result away against Bray

Longford Town make the journey to the Carlisle Grounds this Thursday (kick-off 7.45pm) to play Bray Wanderers who are currently in the play-off picture as they are sitting in fourth place in the table on 31 points to date. 

Bray played First Division champions elect Cork City last Friday night in Turner's Cross with the home side winning 1-0, the goal came just before half-time from McLaughlin. 

Cork may have won the game but that isn't the real story of the game as by all reports the home keeper was man of the match as the visitors were in control for long periods.

As the table stands at the moment Cork are top on 49 points while second in the table UCD are on 36 points and our near neighbours Athlone are third with 34 points. Bray and Finn Harps come next on 31 points. This season Bray have been playing good football and they deserve their position in the table after being a lowly seventh last year.

Bray were very shrewd in their transfer business at the end of last season and one new signing will not need any introduction to the Town faithful. 

Cristian Magerusan, who played in the red and black last season, is now with Bray and he has scored some very vital goals to date for his new club.

 There is no doubt that he will keep Bray chasing a return to the Premier Division through the play-offs as strikers like him are hard to come by in this day and age. 

Another former Town player lining-out for Bray is Darren Craven who previously played for the seaside club before he came here but he decided to return to the Co Wicklow club. 

When the sides met at the end of last season in October the Town and Bray drew 2-2 after a pulsating game. Craven put the visitors ahead in the 18th minute and extended their lead in the 26th minute. 

It looked as if the visitors were going to walk away with the three points going into the latter stages of the game but Francis Campbell pulled a goal back in the 78th minute and six minutes into stoppage time the Town got the equaliser from a Dylan Hand volley. 

The teams drew twice earlier in the season with a 0-0 draw at the Carlisle Grounds in mid March and a 1-1 draw in Bishopsgate in late April. 

The other meeting between the clubs last season was at the Carlisle Grounds in early August and ended 4-2 to the Town with two late goals from Jordan Adeyemo clinching the win.

 The teams met twice this season and the Town lost the opening game at Bishopsgate in mid April on a 3-0  scoreline. Goals from Grogan, Murphy and Groome gave the visitors a deserved victory. 

The other meeting between the clubs at the Carlisle Grounds on March 25 ended 1-1. Karl Chambers opened the scoring for the Town on 8 minutes and the home side unbelievably equalised in the 14th minute of stoppage time when Thomas Morgan scored. The teams finished with 10 men as M Murphy and Francis Campbell were both red carded in the 87th minute. Thursday’s fixture could be a tight affair as games between the clubs are usually very close and the Town could have a few new faces in the squad for the trip to Bray.

 With the July transfer window now open it's believed that there will be some players coming in to bolster the squad. 

Last Friday night in the 1-1 draw at home to Finn Harps, there were nine Longford players unavailable for various reasons.

The Town have 14 games left to improve its position in the table during a really bad run of results but the injury situation is so bad it's really unbelievable. Let's hope manager Wayne Groves can stop the slide in the club’s centenary season.

Last Friday's attendance was way down and that could be due to the fact that our home nights are Saturdays but the position in the table would not be helping with attendances either.

 One man stated that it's so sad that the club are trying to survive and provide a team in the League of Ireland when the support seems to be at an all time low. 

A couple of weeks previous at Bishopsgate around three thousand attended a legends game between a Town team and a Man Utd selection. 

Do the people really want a senior League of Ireland team in the League of Ireland?

After Thursday's game in Bray the Town are on the road again on the following Friday against Athlone and the following weekend it's away again in the FAI Cup clash at Eamonn Deacy Park to play Galway United in the second round of the competition.