An eighth consecutive league defeat for his side had Bray Wanderers manager Pat Devlin pondering aloud on his future at the club yesterday. Club chairman Philip Hannigan dismissed the talk of resignation as nothing more than post-match depression, but nobody was taking Devlin to task on his central point - that something needs to change, and fast, if Bray's seemingly endless cycle of promotion and relegation isn't to be continued for at least another year.

Yesterday's loss, to a Derek Swan goal scored five minutes before the break, means that the club's drop from third in the table after the first round of games to last place has been completed in just short of two months. The one consolation available to Devlin after a dismal afternoon of football was that Bohemians, who have won one and drawn the other two of their last three games and boast plenty of individual talents, looked only fractionally superior to their hosts.

Crucially, though, when a gilt-edged opportunity came Bohemians' way, courtesy of a long kickout, an alleged foul and a poor defensive header, they had, in Derek Swan, a man capable of sticking it away. It was an ability sorely missed by the locals.

After his heroics for Cliftonville in the Irish League last season, Bray's Barry O'Connor might have been expected to have been equally clinical in front of goal, but he had the opportunity to show us otherwise. When, three minutes before the goal, Maurice Farrell kicked off Bray's best move of the match with a fine run through midfield, the Dubliner appeared to have been handed a goal on a plate. Alan Smith supplied the final pass, but with Michael Dempsey well beaten O'Connor blasted over.

The chance could have yielded Bray a draw, for only once, when Brian Mooney rounded John Walsh only to sidefoot against the post, did Bohemians look capable of scoring a second time. But victory was surely beyond Bray - the closest they came to scoring after O'Connor's blunder was a Don Tierney strike that forced Michael Dempsey into making his only stop of the game and, as it happened prompted the kick out that led to the goal.

To make matters worse for the hosts, Farrell, just back from a long lay-off caused by ligament damage, hurt himself again as he committed a foul which earned him a second booking. He was sent off as he was being stretchered from the pitch. With only 10 men it seemed possible that Bray would concede another goal or two but instead they pushed relentlessly forward over the closing stages looking, vainly, for an equaliser.

Mick Doohan joined Kieran O'Brien up front as Bohemians dug in. Against an effective attack the visitors might have paid for defending so deep and committing so many minor offences around the edges of the area, but Bray could not punish them.

Bray: Walsh; Tresson, Lynch, Doohan, Keogh; Ryan, Smith, Tierney, Farrell; O'Connor, Parsons. Subs: P O'Brien for Ryan and K O'Brien for O'Connor (60 mins); Kenny for Parsons (78 mins).

Bohemians: Dempsey; O'Connor, Maher, Mullen, Byrne; Martin, O'Hanlon, Hunt, Mooney; Swan, Hanrahan. Subs: Doyle for O'Hanlon (56 mins); Brunton for Mooney (86 mins).

Referee: P McKeon (Dublin).