Bray Wanderers 1 Drogheda Utd 2:GOALS LATE in each half from Dinny Corcoran and Philip Hand, the latter's a stunning strike, gave Drogheda their first back-to-back wins of the season as Bray's mid-season slump continued in front of a crowd of 759 at the Carlisle Grounds last night.

In second place back in mid-June, Pat Devlin’s Wanderers are in freefall having lost six of their last seven games.

Bray, without four players due to suspension, rarely looked sure of themselves at the back with usually reliable goalkeeper Matt Gregg lucky to get away with a few early errors.

Worse came on 26 minutes when Dane Massey, playing in the unfamiliar role of central defender, was glad to see Corcoran plant his lob over Gregg’s bar after his back header fell way short.

Mistakes weren’t confined to one end, though, as a misunderstanding between keeper Stephen Trimble and his central defender Alan McNally gave Conor Murphy a sniff of goal. But the striker, part of the Ireland under-19 squad at the recent Uefa finals in Romania, toed his effort wide.

Mick Cooke’s Drogheda remained the better side and got their reward with the lead goal a minute before the break.

Lee Lynch, who’d shot over minutes earlier, fed Tiernan Mulvenna on the right and his hooked cross was headed home by strike partner Corcoran. Left-back Hand put the gloss on the win with a powerful left-footed, angled drive on 81 minutes after a Lynch free-kick hadn’t been properly cleared.

Drogheda had some edgy moments late on with Trimble making the save of the match from Jake Kelly four minutes later.

Dan McGuinness stabbed home a Zambra cross on 90 minutes to give Bray hope, but Drogheda held out for a fully deserved win.

BRAY WANDERERS: Gregg; Doyle (G Kelly, 68 mins), Mitchell, Massey, Houston; Zambra, D O’Connor, Dempsey, J Kelly; Murphy (McGuinness, 62 mins), Mulroy (Tresson, 87 mins).

DROGHEDA UNITED: Trimble; Quigley, McNally, Rogers, Hand; M O’Brien, McMahon, Lynch, G Brennan; Mulvenna (White, 86 mins), Corcoran.

Referee: R Rogers (Dublin).