'We hit the self-destruct button again': Darren Murphy

Darren Murphy cut a frustrated figure as he poured over a fourth successive defeat by one goal for his Finn Harps side.

Goals by John O'Sullivan and Guillermo Almirall, either side of a Jamie Watson equaliser for Harps, gave Bray Wanderers a 2-1 win at Finn Park on Friday night.

The manner of the goals conceded left Murphy perplexed. Both Bray goals arrived via set pieces.

“I'm extremely disappointed with the defending for the set pieces - it was absolutely criminal,” Murphy said.

“How we have lost that game, well I do know, but it doesn't matter how much work you do or how much effort you put in, you've got to defend set pieces better.

“They got two free headers for the first goal and then another free header, they picked up the second ball and it's touch, touch, touch. It's the most frustrated that I have been since I've been here.”

Murphy told how his coaching staff have worked endlessly on set pieces in training. O'Sullivan was allowed to force home from close range in the first half while Almirall was given too much time to get his shot away fro the second goal.

“I'm scratching my head,” Murphy said. “We have tried everything for corners: Leaving three up, leaving two up, leaving nobody up, marking people, keeping people free, doing half-and-half jobs.

“The bottom line is if you don't have the hunger to go and head it you're going to concede goals. We have not scored from a corner and we have played 26 games.

“How you defend one 18-yard box and how you attack the other determines how a game pans out. We didn't do enough in their 18-yard box to score and we didn't defend our own well enough. We hit the self-destruct button again.

“People say take the positives and, yeah, there have been some positives. It means absolutely nothing to me. It's tough to take. If I was peppered, I would accept that we were second best. We certainly weren't second best. The only thing we were second best at was defending set pieces.”

Harps were at home for the first time since July 4 on Friday night. In between times, Harps traipsed to Cork, twice, and Limerick.

Harps face back-to-back away games now against Wexford and UCD and in late September will go to Cork and Kerry on successive weekends.

“I find it strange how they put the games together,” Murphy said.

“Has it taken its toll, the travel? Maybe. It has been a tiring time. I found it mentally draining doing the travelling.

“Mentally, it's tiring. It was a 22-hour round trip for some of them to Cork and they had to do that two weeks in a row. That tonight wasn't anything to do with travelling; it was just that we defended poorly and didn't do enough in the final third.”

Harps stay in fifth spot – the final play-off berth – and the margins are fine in the battle to stay in those places.

Murphy said: “We're still in the play-off position and I don't know how we are, but we are. Nobody seems to really want to grasp it. It's a case of 'you have it', 'no you have it'; it's like pass the play-off.”