Dane Massey struck late on to secure an important point for Bray Wanderers, as they came from behind to finish in a stalemate with Wexford at Ferrycarrig Park.

Wexford keeper Charlie Heffernan starred as shares were spoiled as Wexford FC drew with Bray Wanderers at Ferrycarrig Park in a tie where the Wicklow side threw everything at their host, but couldn’t grab all three points in Ian Ryan’s first return to Ferrycarrig.

Aaron Dobbs nearly opened the scoring after just two minutes when his looping header from a deflected cross bounced just inches wide the left hand post with Bray escaping the early scare.

Wexford continued to look strong in the opening minutes and were pinging the ball around crisply and with some real confidence. It was obvious which side had just come off a a derby win.

Despite this Bray came back strong, Ben Feeney was released clear on goal twice in the first twenty minutes and it was only some very poor finishing by the Bray man that kept the score at 0-0.

Firstly after 13 minutes Feeney was fed a slide rule pass that put him one on one with Heffernan in the Wexford net but the keeper stood tall and stopped Feeney’s relatively poor effort.

Just 5 minutes later he again went through and this time beat an onrushing Heffernan to the ball and took it around the goalkeeper who was now stranded 30 yards from his goal, but Feeney shot wide with the goal unmanned to the despair of the travelling Bray supporters.

The Seagulls were creating lots of problems for the Wexford defence and despite a strike from Dobbs just outside the box that flew narrowly over, Bray seemed to be on the verge of opening the scoring.

A volley from a cleared corner by left back Dane Massey came close moments before Conor Davis squeaked a header just wide of the bottom corner from only a few yards out after half an hour.

Davis was once again the culprit of poor finishing as the two Bray strikers seemed determined to keep the game goalless when the ball fell kindly to him and with only Heffernan in front of him he struck the ball right into the big frame of the Wexford keeper.

Bray only had themselves to blame for coming into half time level as they could quite possibly have been up by three or four goals had they been more clinical in front of goal.

Wexford would have to regroup during their team talk as the three points looked to be headed away from Ferrycarrig after the first half display and the appearance for all time top scorer Danny Furlong in his 250th appearance for the club was a sign of intent.In face of this, Bray continued to mount pressure and a slick move down the right hand side, although ending in Harry Groome ballooning the ball over the bar, ended any questions of Bray resting on their first half dominance.

On 64 minutes, in a period of play where Wexford had pulled themselves back into some attacking areas, a corner swung in was not dealt with by Alex Moody in goal for Bray and the ball fell kindly for substitute Mathew Dunne who rifled into the empty net from point blank range to give Wexford a surprising lead.

Feeney had a shot from the edge of the area well saved with the game entering its final twenty minutes with Wexford starting to look comfortable but in the 74th minute another corner would prove decisive when Heffernan could only parry the ball back into danger after Bray’s clever short corner routine, Wexford defenders flew in to make a couple of blocks but eventually captain Dave Massey found a gap between the bodies and levelled for the visitors.

A flurry of chances in the 87th minute for Bray brought the best out of Heffernan who firstly made a superb double stop to deny firstly Groome and then Ger Shortt on the follow up, Wexford were unable to clear and the ball came back into the box again at the feet of Callum Thompson who jinked his way past a couple of challenges but couldn’t find a way past the formidable Heffernan.

Within seconds however, Bray again found themselves with a golden chance to win the game but centre half Jack Hudson completely mistimed his header right in front of goal to send it harmlessly wide.

In the dying minutes Leon Ajala sent his strike, again from a corner not dealt with properly, hurtling a whisker wide as Bray couldn’t take advantage of their late period of threat as it finished honours even in an entertaining game in Ferrycarrig Park, though one that Bray should feel they really have ought to have won.