Longford Town 0
Waterford FC 3
Waterford FC have made it five wins on the bounce under the management of Gary Hunt and David Breen after getting the better of fourth-placed Longford Town in their SSE Airtricity First Division clash at Bishopstown.
It was a comedy own goal that gave the Blues the lead goal on 13 minutes when Shane Elworthy’s throw back to defender Matthew Dunne saw the latter send the ball back to keeper Luke Dennison, but he misjudged the ball that crossed the line before Louis Britton could finish.
Eddie Nolan went close with a header four minutes later when he headed Shane Griffin’s free kick wide before Phoenix Patterson tested Dennison with an effort from the edge of the area on 20 minutes. Longford’s first chance of note came through an Aaron Robinson shot that flashed wide a minute later.
Patterson just cleared the crossbar with a cracking shot from the top of the penalty area five minutes before the break as Waterford went in leading at the half time break, but knew that there was room for improvement in the second half.
It was a combination of both Dennison and Dunne denied Waterford a certain second goal on 57 minutes when Roland Idowu got free down the right-side before cutting into the area, and after his shot was saved by the netminder, the rebound fell to Louis Britton, who looked certain to score, but Matthew Dunne got in a vital intervention.
It was a sweeping Longford move from a quick free kick that was initially awarded to the Blues that could have yielded an equalising goal on 69 minutes when Joe Doyle got the better of Eddie Nolan down the right before setting up Joe Power, but he fired into the near side netting from 14 yards.
Waterford grabbed a second goal on 77 minutes when Phoenix Patterson took a pass from Richard Taylor out on the left-side before skipping past three tackles before planting an unstoppable right-footed shot from 20 yards to the near corner past Luke Dennison.
Cian Kavanagh added a third goal in second half injury time from the penalty spot when he was clipped In the area by Matthew Dunne after he mis controlled a pass from Luke Dennison, and he beat the netminder from 12 yards.
