Parkhouse had one of his front teeth knocked out after being hit in the face with a ball during the warm-up, but he shook off the scare to become Harps' match-winner with a goal that has handed the Donegal side a massive advantage in the bid to avoid the drop.

He fired home after referee Mark Gough adjudged Mark Duggan to have pulled Neil McCafferty down in the box. The goal gave Harps their first League win in Bray in twelve years (their last League win at the venue was in November 1996), but more importantly it put them seven points clear of the drop zone.

Parkhouse said: "The pressure was on alright. I've been joking with Conor Gethins that I don't miss penalties, that's just a bit of friendly banter between us, but thankfully I didn't miss it.

"I'm delighted with it because I thought we deserved the win although, as usual, we didn't make things easy for ourselves.

"We showed belief tonight, we started well and we finished well which was good. I should have scored in the first half and at the end of the day it doesn't matter who scores, but it was a bonus for me to get the winner and it's a massive result for us."

Harps had a late scare when the ten-men of Bray, who had Derek Pender sent off for collecting a second yellow card in the 54th minute, almost drew level. An attempted clearance by Parkhouse cannoned off Kevin Doherty and forced the back-peddling James Gallagher into a wonderful tip over the crossbar.

Bray boss Eddie Gormley was in the luxurious position of being able to name the same starting eleven as had held St Patrick's Athletic goal-less until the 81st minute last week. Wanderers had taken just eight points from a possible 33 in their last eleven League outings before Friday and Harps headed south east in the hope of bagging a second win against The Seagulls this season.

Paul Hegarty was able to recall Neil McCafferty to his team. The midfielder returned from suspension and took the place of ex Bray man David Tyrell in the only change made from the side that lost to Bohs last weekend with defenders Declan Boyle and Aaron Labonte passed fit to play having been struggling with injuries during the week.

The opening half-an-hour was virtually a non-event with just a half-chance at either end in that spell. Eleven minutes in, Boyle did well to force Jake Kelly into a wide shooting position and the striker shot into the side netting. Two minutes later, Stephen Parkhouse headed into the hands of Alan Gough after Marc Mukendi had directed a McCafferty free-kick across goal.

Mukendi himself forced Gough into a save on the half-hour mark when he headed goal-ward from a Holmes delivery before Harps had the first clear-cut opening with eight minutes left on the clock in part one.

Declan Boyle rose to powerfully head a free-kick from Mark Duggan out of the dangerzone and into the path of Gary Beckett, whose delightful through-ball gave Stephen Parkhouse a telling invite. The frontman had the beating of ex Harps defender Ray Kenny, but he was denied by Gough.

At the other end, James Gallagher was out to bravely save at the feet of Derek Pender after his neat one-two with Daryl Robinson took him into the box. And a minute later, Gallagher was called upon to beat away a shot from Kelly, after Robinson was the architect again.

Gough was forced into a diving save from McCafferty's daisy cutter and Shaun Holmes fired a free-kick wide of the mark after Pender hacked down Funston right on the edge of the box as chances became more frequent. Bray's Gary Cronin could have done better with the final chance of the half, but he headed over from an unmarked position at the back post.

Nine minutes into the second-half the scales tipped slightly in favour of Harps when Bray were reduced to ten men. Referee Mark Gough had no option but to show a second yellow card to Derek Pender for his second heavy challenge of the evening on Michael Funston. Just after the hour, Gavin Whelan denied Harps a certain opener when he took the ball off Parkhouse's toe as he ran onto Boyle's pass. Kevin Doherty had lost possession to Boyle and the veteran defender raced through to square for Parkhouse, only for Whelan to intervene.

Harps had a real let-off just three minutes later when Robson shot off the underside of the crossbar with a 20-yard effort after Doherty had dispossessed Funston.