Derry City 1 Waterford FC 2

Waterford FC’s long trip north proved to be a worthwhile journey as they took all three points  with a deserved 2-1 win over Derry City at the Brandywell.

Keith Long made just one change, enforced by the suspension of Ryan Burke, as Kyle White came in as a straight swop at left wing back.

And they got the perfect start after just nine minutes when Conan Noonan slipped the ball into space for White to meet – the Blues’ player checked before calmly firing into the opposite corner.

Waterford doubled their lead five minutes before the break when Noonan delivered a great free kick into the area. It was headed backwards by Liam Boyce into the path of Kacper Radkowski and he calmly fired past Brian Maher at his near post.

Derry pulled one back on 64 minutes when Navajo Bakboord was adjudged to have pushed Ben Doherty and Patrick Hoban stepped up to send McMullan the wrong way from the penalty spot to set up a grandstand finish.

The home side had a gilt edged chance to level things six minutes from the end when Adam O Reilly’s pass into the area was picked up by Robbie Benson but with the goal at his mercy the ball somehow skewed wide of the upright.

The Blues held firm through five minutes of additional time to secure a vital three points – their first win over Derry since April 2021.