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Carlisle Grounds
17 July 2012

Byrne beats Morrison to open the scoring
pic Michael Tierney

What should have been a football coup for the Seagulls fell a little flat on a fine Sunday afternoon with plenty of competing sport.

Bray had the honour of opening the scoring courtesy of a fine Jason Byrne header before the quarter hour.

But it was all downhill for the hosts from there on, and the English Premiership side blasted home a brace of hat-tricks (the dressing room argument between Adam Le Fondre and Jay Tabb over who gets to keep the ball was no doubt good-natured!), and solo efforts from Jem Karacan and Alex Pearce.

The home side made threatening movements, especially up the wings, but failed to maintain enough possession most of the time to bring the Reading goal into sight.

True to his word, Brian McDermott made room for Ian Harte and Pierce Sweeney for cameo appearances, and the biggest disappointment of the day was the tiny audience who came to the Carlisle Grounds to see a strong team in stylish action.

Mícheál Ó hUanacháin

Bray Wanderers: 1 Brian Kane; 2 Shane O'Connor, 5 Adam Mitchell, 4 Danny O'Connor (c), 3 Dane Massey; 7 Adam Hanlon, 6 Dean Zambra, 9 Kevin O'Connor, 8 Daire Doyle, 11 Kieran Waters; 10 Jason Byrne
Subs: 12 Conor Butler (for Hanlon 70), 14 Colm Tresson (for ), 15 Pat Seery (for D O'Connor 82), 16 Paul Moffat (for Doyle 70), 17 Conor Earley (for Massey H/T), 18 Ismahil Akinade (for Byrne 70), 19 Ger Pender (for K O'Connor 85), 20 Seán Houston (for Zambra H/T), 21 Sean Hurley (for Waters 85), 22 David Webster (for Mitchell H/T), 25 Darren Quigley (for Kane H/T)
Reading FC: 21 Alex McCarthy; 24 Shaun Cummings, 5 Alex Pearce, 15 Sean Morrison, 3 Nicky Shorey; 11 Jobi McAnuff (c), 4 Jem Karacan, 20 Danny Guthrie, 16 Jay Tabb, 10 Noel Hunt; 9 Adam Le Fondre
Subs: 23 Ian Harte (for Karacan 59), 41 Stuart Taylor, 47 Pierce Sweeney (for Pearce 88), 48 Sean Long (for McAnuff 75)
Referee: Tomás Connolly