Bohemians may have left the field to some booing from the small crowd, but they were infinitely the happier team after this dreadful spectacle of a match.

Ruined by a strong wind that made it almost impossible to judge the pace and bounce of the ball at times, the game never got going. Bohemians' manager Roddy Collins was sagely happy, having correctly predicted the outcome.

"Considering we didn't have a team last Wednesday, I'd have been happy with a point," he said. "I said it would be the worst game of football you would ever see in your life and that it would end scoreless." The point lifts Bohemians over Dundalk and out of the bottom four.

Bray, too, move, coming off the bottom on goal difference, but on the evidence of this performance they have much to do to avoid relegation. They haven't won in eight league games in which they've scored just twice.

"We were lucky to get a point," said Bray manager, Pat Devlin. "The conditions were atrocious. It wasn't pretty. We didn't play with any conviction in the second half and it was our worst display in eight or nine games."

Still, Bray belied their position at the foot of the table to use the wind to reasonable advantage and take the game to Bohemians from the start.

Good approach play, though, never got its reward from those in positions to score, and when Dom Tierney did get a stinging half-volley on target on 16 minutes the underside of the crossbar came to Bohemians' aid.

Bohemians gradually got hold of the ball to play. David Fairclough was marginally offside when he thought he had scored with a fabulous, dipping volley on 25 minutes, while Derek Swan shot wide at the near post from Paul Byrne's clever free-kick minutes later.

Wind assisted, Bohemians owned the second-half, but, save for a low drive from Paul Byrne that was just wide and Swan cracking a shot off a post, never gave this game the goal it cried out for.

Bohemians: Dempsey; O'Connor, O'Driscoll, Maher, Fairclough; P Byrne, T Byrne, Doyle, Mullen; Swan, Kelly. Subs: Mooney for Faircluough (54 mins), Coombes for Kelly (83 mins).

Bray Wanderers: Walsh; Doohan, Tresson, Lynch; P O'Brien, Smyth, Tierney, Keogh, Coyle; O'Connor, Fox.

Referee: H Byrne (Dublin).