Gary Cronin downbeat after another late defeat for the Seagulls

Andrew Dempsey reports from Stradbrook Road

Bray Wanderers manager Gary Cronin admits that the Seagulls latest late defeat will prove to be a huge dent in terms of their Playoff aspirations.  

The Seagulls fell to defeat late on thanks to a brilliant Yuta Sasaki winner for Cabinteely after Dylan McGlade had just levelled proceedings with a quarter of an hour remaining.

“It’s a massive dent to our playoff hopes. We dragged ourselves back into the promotion mix, going on a three-game winning run and then we went down to Cobh and were beaten.

“Since then we’ve won one in five which is absolutely heart-breaking really in terms of getting into the playoffs.

“We’re now seven behind Cabinteely and Limerick have gone further ahead of us as well. It’s disappointing because we know we’re better than that, but the results are unfortunately not showing that.”

On the game itself, the former Longford Town assistant boss was at a loss to explain his side’s lucklessness in front of goal.

“It’s hard at the moment to talk to be honest. It’s the story of our season so far not taking the chances we create.

“I’m like a broken record at this stage but we’ve created lots of great chances, obviously Dylan scored a great goal tonight but we’re not putting enough away.

“We’re now conceding too many chances. They were two poor goals to concede but obviously the lad has done well to jink past three of our players which was disappointing.”

With the renewed optimism prior to the mid-season break, two late defeats have brought the Quinsborough Road outfit back down to earth, with a serious bout of déjà vu not helping the cause.

 “It’s funny how the game goes at times,” the 41-year-old noted.  

“We showed our character against Longford and that is well within us but you’re looking at that night, thinking we’ve dragged ourselves back in it.

“We then had a great chance and then last week was the same old story for us. It was a game we shouldn’t have lost, but we lost, and it was the same tonight unfortunately.”