Souness piles praise on Bray

Graeme Souness has praised eircom League outfit Bray Wanderers for giving his Blackburn side a tough workout ahead of their Premiership campaign.

The English side beat Wanderers 4-0 at the Carlisle Grounds on Saturday with goals from Barry Ferguson, Jonathan Stead, Nils-Eric Johansson and Lorenzo Amoruso. But manager Souness said the result barely reflected the test Pat Devlin’s side posed nor the pressure put on their goalkeeper Peter Enckelman at the other end.

“We had to work hard this evening,” Souness admitted. “Bray had some good chances and Encks made the saves.

“At 0-0 Enckelman kept us in the game.”

Blackburn open their English Premiership campaign next weekend at home to newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion and Souness added: “It was a good workout for us, they matched us early on, but we got on top as the game wore on.”