Longford Town away to Bray Wanderers

Longford Town FC will be in action at the Carlisle Grounds this Friday night to play Bray Wanderers who are now third in the table and chasing UCD and runaway league leaders Cork City at the top of the table.

Bray are undoubtedly one of the best footballing sides in the division and they have many very talented players in their squad and they will be tough to beat, especially at the Carlisle grounds which is a very difficult place to go.

After last weekend Bray have moved to third in the table on goal difference and will be hoping to close the gap between them and UCD who are in second place.

The Town have moved into the top half of the table after beating Cobh at the weekend and having picked up seven points in their last three competitive games the manager Wayne Groves will be hoping to extend the good run on Friday.

Last season Bray had a very good run against the Town, winning three and losing just one game to the Town and that was the final meeting between the clubs last season and it was at the Carlisle Grounds.

This year the Town have fared out much better with a win and a draw so far. The first meeting in Bray ended 1-1 with the Town goal coming in the 90th minute from Dean George.

The second meeting was at Bishopsgate and the Town won that game 1-0. The winning goal came from Andy Paraschiv in the 90th minute.

Cobh came to Longford last weekend on a great run of three consecutive wins against Athlone, Kerry FC and Treaty United but the Town beat them well with two early goals and Cobh got a way back into the game when the referee awarded the visitors a penalty which baffled everyone in Bishopsgate.

It’s very sad to say that despite efforts to improve the league that the standards of refereeing is poor, especially in the First Division.

Going to Bray will be tough as they are the most improved team in the First Division. Bray have lost one of their outstanding prospects recently when the very impressive Billy O’Neill joined Bristol City but they have a serious amount of young talented players coming through at the moment.

The Town have still quite a few players out through injury but indications are that a few may soon be back in training and ready for a return to first team action.

When a team loses a player of the calibre of Aaron Doran that puts pressure on his teammates and fortunately for the club they have all come up to the mark.

The news on the injuries isn’t as bad as previously and we hope to see some players getting back into training and back on the field of play soon.

Being past the halfway point of the season we hope that we can continue our good run of form in the coming weeks when we play Bray and Kerry away in successive weeks then we have two daunting games in succession.

Firstly we have UCD at home and the following weekend it’s away to the table toppers Cork City. After the trip to Cork the Town have a Cup game against Baldoyle United to contend with and that tie will be moved to Bishopsgate as their home ground doesn’t come up to the standards required to host a home game in the FAI Cup.

As stated earlier Bray will be without Billy O’Neill but they have many other outstanding young players in their squad.

Former Town defender Dean O’Shea will be in the Bray line-up and no doubt he will be looking forward to playing his former club especially after scoring in last week’s game against Treaty United.

Thanks to supporters

A big thank you to our supporters for once again coming out to support our team last Saturday night against Cobh Ramblers.

Your support is greatly appreciated and it keeps the team going when the pressure is on. Hoping to see a big crowd of Town fans at the Carlisle Grounds this Friday night.