General
- Wednesday May 14th, 2008 @ 11:56
A Shield - Bray 3 Saints 1
Maurice O'Driscoll's young A Team suffered their first defeat of the Shield campaign at a sunny Carlisle Grounds.
Bray dominated the opening exchanges and took the lead after only 9 minutes when Ireland U19 International Emeka Onwubiko struck the back of the Saints net. Bray had chances to further their lead in the first half but failed to capitalise on some mistakes in the away side's defence.
Pats came more into the game in the second half despite going two down just six minutes after the break. Dane Massey struck a low shot into the corner to increase Bray's lead against the run of play.
It took the Saints just one minute to get a goal back when Robbie Murtagh finished well after a scramble in the area.
The Saints had chances to level the game and came closest when Murtagh hit the upright from a header after good work by Andy Haran down the right.
Bray finished the game off when Onwubiko completed a Bray counter-attack with a cool finish, despite appearing to be in an offside position.
O'Driscoll told stpatsfc.com that he was pleased with his sides second half performance.
"We really came into the game in the second half and despite the result I thought we did quite well.
"There were some very good performances and a win next week in the return game will see us top the group."
The team's final game of Group 2 of the A Shield is again against Bray Wanderers, next Sunday in Richmond Park. Kick off is 12 noon.
