Longford Town looking for a positive result away to Bray Wanderers

After a week of inactivity Longford Town are on the road on Friday when they travel to the Carlisle grounds (kick-off 7.45pm) to play a new look Bray Wanderers side under manager Ian Ryan.

There is a lot expected from Bray this season as they have put together an experienced and by all accounts a costly team in terms of the First Division. 

Last season Bray like the Town had a season to forget ending up in 7th place in the table which was one place better than Longford.

 After last season's poor showing Bray showed that they mean business this season as they made some shrewd and exciting signings. 

Big centre half Killian Cantwell starred with Waterford last year.  

Manager Ryan is a big believer in starting with a very strong and experienced defence and the Cantwell  signing is a major boost to his promotion ambitions.

 Cole Omorehiomwan is a big no nonsense defender and he is dangerous in free-kick situations. 

Former Town favourite Darren Craven rejoined the club after scoring some outstanding goals for Longford while Callum Thompson also wore the red and black. 

Town supporters will certainly remember striker Cristian Magerusan who was a real hit when he was here, scoring many goals.

Midfielder Shane Griffin is a massive signing for Bray and he will no doubt give Bray that extra experience needed to push the club to the play-off spots at the least. Griffin and Cantwell could be the missing links needed to push the Bray club forward. 

The fact that Cristian Magerusan only came on during the game in Kerry last weekend shows that Bray have a very strong squad of players at their disposal.

 On Friday last Bray travelled to Tralee and came away with three points after a very hard earned 3-2 victory. Kerry started the game well and they took the lead just on half-time with a goal from Kevin Williams and that was after they had Nathan Geelan sent off in the 38th minute.

 Kerry's new manager Conor McCarthy, who is only in his mid twenties, wasn't very happy with the referee's handling of the situation. 

Bray woke up and had a purple patch during the second half, as they scored three goals in five minutes. Peter Grogan opened their account in the 70th minute;  Craven added no 2 in the 73rd minute and new signing  Magerusan added goal no 3 in the 75th minute. Kerry pulled a goal back when Samuel Aladesanusi netted. 

On the opening day of the season Bray played relegated UCD at home and despite holding a man advantage for almost an hour they lost 2-1 to a very youthful college squad with the notable exception of Ronan Finn who joined the club after a very successful period at Premier Division champions Shamrock Rovers.

Last season the games between the two clubs were exciting and very close to say the least. The first fixture  took place in Bray on March 10 and it ended scoreless. 

The next game was played at Bishopsgate in April and this game ended all square, 1-1.

 The next meeting was in Bray and the Town gave a very good account of themselves. A Chris Lyons penalty on 23 mins and a Dane Massey cracker on 48 mins gave Bray an excellent lead but Cristian Magerusan got a goal back on 68 minutes while Beineon Whitmarsh added the equaliser two minutes later. 

Jordan Adeyemo made sure the Town got all the points with goals in the 81st and 90th minutes to seal an outstanding victory. 

The final game came in mid October and that ended in a 2-2 stalemate at Bishopsgate.  

There is no doubt that Friday night's match will be very tough for the Town after they had no game at the weekend due to a waterlogged pitch in Wexford. 

Former Bray striker Chris Lyons will hope to add to his two goals that he scored for Longford against Finn Harps in the opening round defeat and the midlanders need to bounce back in the quest for a positive result.