Bray Wanderers were left to rue a series of second-half missed chances on Saturday night when they lost out to struggling Finn Harps.

The home side, who had not won in the league in Ballybofey this season, had been handed a glorious chance to take the lead in the first minute when Kemo Avdiu was fouled in the box by Matt Britton. However Eddie Van Boxtel pulled off a great save from Paddy McGrenaghan's penalty. There was little to separate the sides for the rest of the half until Harps managed to break the deadlock two minutes before the interval.

Jonathan Minnock's long throw found Shane Bradley and the centre-half powered a header past the Bray keeper from close range. It was a different story in the second-half as Bray piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser. Barry O'Connor was denied a certain goal by a wonderful clearance from Neil Fitzhenry. O'Connor's finishing, however, let him down on several occasions, while on others he was thwarted by Harps goalkeeper Gareth Downey who earned his man-of-the-match accolade with a string of fine stops.

Finn Harps: Downey, R Kenny, Minnock, Fitzhenry, Bradley, Tierney, Mohan, McGrenaghan, Avdiu, Nesovic, J Kenny. Subs: McHugh for J Kenny, 75 Dykes for Minnock 83, Bonner for Avdiu 87.

Bray Wnnderers: Van Boxtel, Britton, Farrell, Lynch, Campbell, Gormley, O'Connor, Dempsey, Ryan, Byrne, Keogh. Subs: Doohan for Ryan, 67 Dodd for Britten 81, Long for Dempsey 81.

Referee: H Byrne (Dublin).