26th March
Dundalk suffered a severe setback in their battle against relegation against Bray in this six pointer. Coming into this game Bray were four points behind Dundalk with a game in hand and without a win since the corresponding fixture in Oriel Park three months ago when a lifeless Dundalk lost 1-0 to a spirited but not overly impressive Bray team. The same could be said about last nights match although it must be said Dundalk were lively for the first 30 minutes before complacency set in.
Dundalk lined out in a traditional 4-4-2 with Ward and Brennan up front. Gollogly was dropped and replaced by Campbell with Reddish coming back from suspension for Dunne. On the bench, no room for David Martin with McLaughlin plumping for the conservative approach of one defender and three midfielders in reserve. And after 25 minutes Dundalk could say they were unlucky not to be in front. David Ward started brightly and got in behind the Bray defence after a punt forward but he shot over after losing his balance. Minutes later a shot from out of the blue from 35 yards by Shane Reddish forced Bray keeper Jonh Walsh into a good save low to his left. Dundalk were on top and now should have pressed with the advantage but poor supply from midfield added to solid Bray defending saw Dundalk being pushed back into their own half. The fact that McNulty and Campbell were carrying injuries coming into the match did not help as neither played well. Bray really should have taken the lead after 44 minutes when the Dundalk defence was carved open and O Brien layed it on for Robbie Coyle who shot tamely and straight at Steve Williams. Dundalk went in level at half time and despite Bray finishing the half better Dundalk had the game there for the taking, if they were brave enough to go for it.
The second half started with the teams unchanged from the first and after 5 minutes of getting to know each other again Bray took the lead. A deep cross from the right by Colm Tresson fell onto the head of Robert Coyle who looped the ball over Steve Williams into the far bottom corner of the net. Dundalk looked visibly shell shocked and were dazed for the next 10 minutes when Bray could have sewn it up. Tresson broke through on more than one occasion and if his deft lob just after the goal had been better directed then it would have been over then. Williams was called into action to make a good stop from a O Connor in that treacherous period where Dundalk also introduced Harte for Fortune who possibly had taken a longer break than usual from work. Harte and Campbell were employed in a more forward role with Brennan returning to right back and Melvin into midfield with Reddish moving more centrally in what could have been a 5-2-3 or 4-3-3 formation depending on where Melvin was actually playing. Yet despite all that Dundalk were playing abysmally. Up front Ward had got bored with all that trying and went missing while Harte and Campbell had to drop back to get the ball and were left with an impossible task of trying to get forward after their own passes. McNulty was just not all there on the night while Reddish and Brady were being overpowered by Barry O Connor and Kieran O Brien. O Connor, like another ex-Drog Colm Tresson would feel disappointed not to have got on the scoresheet while ex-Lilywhite Mick Doohan had nothing to deal with at the back. There was a brief glimpse of a goal for Dundalk when a good Crawley cross from the left sailed onto the head of the unmarked John Brenna but he did not direct his header and it went straight at Walsh.
Then Ward pulled a muscle when chasing a hopeless ball forward and was replaced by David Hoey who made a more than welcome return to the first team. He really didn't have time to make an impact and but hopefully the 15 minutes or so of competitive action will have him sharpened up for a first team return next Sunday. His powerful runs from midfield are what we lacked because Campbell was not quite fit either. If both were fit next Sunday then they could cause trouble down the flanks. Although Hoey's return is welcomed this was the time when David Martin should have been introduced. He could hassle the Bray defence for the last 15 minutes and we could have grabbed an undeserved point. Yet it never looked likely. We became more desperate when we threw Melvin into the front line and replaced Thew with Gollogly to make our formation even more nonsencical and perplexing. The game ended 1-0 with Bray having much of the possession when Dundalk should have been pushing forward.
What I saw at the end of that match were 10 Dundalk outfield players who never looked like scoring. The best amongst those players were not 100% fit, some were off form and some looked completely lost , others didn't see to care either way. This performance I would class as weak. We looked like we were just playing out our games like some side stuck in midtable obscurity or a team ten points behind at the bottom with no hope of salvation. We are stuck between those two eventualities as we stand. If we keep playing like this we'll be the team that is relegated. If we play like we can then we can hopefully finish in 9th or win a playoff match but with the results being so unpredictable we can only use the old cliche and take each game at a time whatever happens everywhere else will happen. Before this game our fate was in our own hands but now it lies in the hands of the teams above us. I preferred it when the team picked itself , now we have choice I don't feel our manager can pick the right team, it's that which could eventually be our downfall.
I'm not in the humour to praise players but neither Williams nor Melvin harmed their reputations with their performances.