Bray Wanderers 1 Longford Town 1
A Stephen Paisley equaliser earned Longford a point they scarcely deserved as a much-improved performance from Bray failed to bring its reward of an overdue win.

Paisley forced the ball home on 71 minutes after Dean Fitzgerald shot Alan Cawley's cross back into the Bray area. That was cruel on Bray who ran the match for good spells and, but for Longford goalkeeper Stephen O'Brien, would have earned a much-needed win.

For their part, Longford will be disappointed in their performance ahead of Thursday's UEFA Cup clash with Welsh side Carmarthen Town whose manager Mark Jones was a very interested spectator.

A mistake from Fitzgerald on six minutes set the tone for a sluggish Longford display when he presented the ball to David Tyrrell. The Bray left winger put Stephen Fox in on goal, but the striker's touch was poor and the ball trickled wide across goal.

Eamon Zayed struck to finally punish dreadful Longford defending and deservedly put Bray in front on 54 minutes. Under little pressure, ex-Bray defender Danny O'Connor gave the ball straight to Tyrrell. The young left winger opened the Longford defence before flicking the ball to Fox.

Fox brought a good stop off O'Brien's feet, but Zayed quickly retrieved the loose ball and curled a delightful shot over the goalkeeper.

Tyrrell came within inches of doubling Bray's lead on 65 minutes with O'Brien acrobatically tipping his free-kick on to a post before Town levelled against the run of play on 71 minutes. Longford captain Barry Ferguson was then shown a straight red card four minutes later for appearing to elbow Fox.

BRAY WANDERERS: O'Connor; O'Reilly, Tresson, Lynch, Davey; Gifford, O'Brien, Keogh, Tyrrell; Zayed, Fox.

LONGFORD TOWN: O'Brien; Murphy, O'Connor, Ferguson, Paisley; Kirby, Fitzgerald, Martin (Cawley, 62 mins.), Byrne; Myler (Baker, 74 mins.), Keegan.

Referee: D McKeon (Dublin).