Bray and Waterford played out an entertaining scoreless draw in the SSE Airtricity League at the Carlisle Grounds.
Neither side will delight in the outcome, but will reflect on positives too.
Waterford gained ground on Derry but this was a game they would have expected to win; that said, they found a Seagulls side in confident mood and in no way resigned just yet to relegation.
The first half was a lively enough affair.
If the surface were cabbage, it’d be neither green nor white; a pretty barren pitch reflected the paucity of rain in the region of late, though it did not seem nearly as firm as some pitches have been in the league of late.
Bray belied their status as basement boys and were the better side in the opening 45.
The lively Ronan Coughlan, one of the brighter lights in a dire season, set up Craig Walsh on 13 minutes but he blasted skyward and over.
At the other end, Izzy Akinade was causing the home defence – minus the suspended Conor Kenna – some difficulty, and he nearly put Bray ahead but was off target.
On eight minutes, Corey Galvin – positive throughout – had his shot well-saved by Blues stopper Matthew Connor, who has stepped in now Lawrence Vigouroux has returned to Swindon Town.
Courtney Duffus was poised to put Waterford ahead ten minutes shy of the break, only for Rhys Gorman to get his body in the way for Bray, who really ought to have gone ahead just before the interval.
Walsh got in behind a static Waterford defence and half-rounded Connor, but the latter held his ground astutely, narrowed the angle and blocked; Bastien Hery, in subsequently heading out for a corner, was not far off putting into his own net.
Waterford manager Alan Reynolds was at his first game since his horrific assault sustained last month, but he was not on the bench, nor available to give his players advice at half-time. Bray would have been the happier at this stage.
Walsh continued to influence proceedings and his curling shot forced a neat Conor save shortly after the game resumed. At the other end, Evan Moran was finally rendered relevant, though he rather fumbled a Duffus shot.
The best move of the encounter, involving Daniel Kelly and Coughlan, saw the former’s attempt lack power; in the next attack, Akinade’s own had too much.
Bray rallied but Kelly’s header was tame from close range. Bray were still the better team, Dan McKenna’s curler wide of the left-side post.
Blues exacted some sustained pressure in the closing stages but created precious little on the night.
Substitute Dean O’Halloran finally got some change out of Kevin Lynch, Akinade heading over.
The Bray crowd were on their feet in injury time but Daniel Kelly’s screamer was just wide.
Bray: Moran, Lynch, Harding, Heaney, Walsh, Gorman, O’Conor, D Kelly, Galvin (J Kelly 90), McKenna, Coughlan.
Waterford: Connor, Daly, Browne, Feeley, Barnett, Puri, Hery, Martin (Walsh 80), Holohan (O’Halloran 41), Duffus, Akinade.
Referee: Robert Hennessy.
