Waterford FC 1 Athlone Town 2
Waterford fell to their first home defeat in eight years at the hands of Athlone Town following a two one defeat at the RSC.
Keith Long made four changes to the side that let a two goal lead slip in Limerick on Monday evening with Darragh Power returning at right back, Cameron Cresswell, who scored a 93rd minute equaliser when the sides met in July, returned after suspensiony, Romeo Akachukwu was back in after being rested on Monday evening while Dean McMenamy also came back in the starting eleven.
Sam Perry, Serge Atakayi, Drew Baker and Christie Pattisson all dropped to the bench.
The Blues started well and had the first opportunity on ten minutes when great work on the left from Conor Parsons and Dean McMenamy saw McMenamy get into the area and passed through the space to the in rushing Darragh Power whose left footed effort came off the crossbar.
Athlone took the lead three minutes later when Sam Sargeant failed to hold the ball from a corner and Dylan Gavin had the simple task of tapping into the empty net.
The lead lasted just three minutes when Roland Idowu restored parity with a 25 yard left footed effort that nestled in the bottom corner.
However, the visitors were back in front within 60 seconds when Franz Pierrot smashed home after some poor defensive work from the Blues.
McMenamy hit the woodwork on twenty one minutes but the Blues couldn’t get back on level terms before the break.
And it was more of the same in the second half as Waterford couldn’t find a breakthrough with their best chance coming just after the hour when Cameron Cresswell scooped the ball over the bar from six yards with the goal at his mercy.
WATERFORD FC: Sam Sargeant, Darragh Power (Serge Atakayi ’78), Giles Phillips, Kilian Cantwell (Sam Perry ’86), Ryan Burke, Niall O’Keeffe, Romeo Akachukwu (Shane Griffin ’57), Dean McMenamy (Christie Pattisson ’57), Roland Idowu, Cameron Cresswell, Connor Parsons.
ATHLONE TOWN: Enda Minogue, Oisin Duffy, German Fuentes Rodriguez, Patrick Hickey, Jack Kavanagh (Donal Curtin ’75), Noah Van Geenen, Jamar Campion-Hinds, Daniel McKenna, Frantz Pierrot, Valerli Dolia (Blake Ryan ’80), Dylan Gavin (Shane Forbes ’67).
Referee: Chris Sheehan (Cork).
