Sligo Rovers 2 - 0 Bray Wanderers

Sligo Rovers have returned to third in the table following a 2-0 victory over Bray Wanderers at The Showgrounds on Saturday evening.

A goal in either half fom Raffaele Cretaro and Kieran Djilali secured the three points for The Bit O'Red against a wasteful Bray side who squandered a number of chances on the night.

The first of those chances fell to Gary Dempsey after just three minutes when his strike from distance rattled the crossbar.

The home side had their first opportunity of the night when a superb through ball from Kieran Djilali found Lee Lynch who was one-on-one with Darren Quigley, but the midfielder could not get the shot away quick enough as Quigley got down to deny an early breakthrough.

Djilali this time sets Raffaele Cretaro up in similar fashion, but Quigley is on hand again to tip the winger's shot over the bar.

Cretaro would not be denied with his second effort of the night as he broke the deadlock after 17 minutes with his 50th career League goal for the home side.

A surging run from defence by Evan McMillan ends with the ball at the feet of the 31-year-old, who turns the defender marking him before curling a strike beyond the reach of Quigley from 20 yards.

As the game approached the half hour mark, Bray were denied an equaliser twice in quick succession, Kieran 'Marty' Waters first seeing an angle shot saved by Gary Rogers which was quickly followed by a John Mulroy header being cleared off the line by Evan McMillan.

Djilali was proving to be a thorn in the Seagulls defence throughout the half, and he came close to scoring his fourth goal of the season when he played a quick one-two with Lee Lynch in the box before rifling a shot at Quigley who was able to grasp the former Crystal Palace man's strike.

Sligo got off to a flyer in the second half as star man Djilali doubled the lead after 49 minutes when he broke away from the Bray defence to set himself up with just Quigley to beat, doing so comfortably as he slotted the ball low into the back of the net.

Joseph Ndo almost made it 3-0 just minutes later when Djilali brushed past Stephen Quigley before squaring a ball for the veteran midfielder whose shot across the face of goal struck the far post.

Mulroy really should have pulled a goal back for the visitors after 55 minutes when Kevin O'Connor sliced through the Rovers rearguard before crossing for the midfielder who could only hit the near post from 4 yards.

Bray continued to push for a goal to reduce the deficit, but Rogers was proving difficult to beat as both Waters and Jason Byrne saw the goalkeeper equal to their strikes.

Substitute Liam Martin almost made an immediate impact with just four minutes to go when he recieved a pass from Djilali and turned on the box before firing a stinging shot at goal, but his effort was straight into the hands of Quigley.

Sligo Rovers: Gary Rogers; Seamus Conneely, Evan McMillan, Jeff Henderson, Alan Keane; Joseph Ndo, David Cawley, Lee Lynch (Aaron Greene, 68), Raffaele Cretaro, Kieran Djilali; Anthony Elding (Liam Martin, 81).
Subs not used: Ciaran Kelly, Jake Dykes, Danny Ventre Pascal Millien.

Booked: None.

Bray Wanderers: Darren Quigley; David Webster, Niall Cooney, Eoin Hyland, Stephen Quigley; Kieran 'Marty' Waters, Kevin O'Connor, Gary Dempsey (Kevin Knight, 87), Dean Zambra, John Mulroy (Daire Doyle, 68); Jason Byrne (Kevin O'Leary, 85).
Subs not used: Shane Redmond, Peter Thomas, Conor Earley, Adam Mitchell.

Booked: None.

Referee: Rob Rogers.

Attendance: 2,082

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Kieran Djilali (Sligo Rovers).