Waterford striker Michael O'Connor couldn't hide his delight after his brace clinched a 2-0 win away to St. Patrick's Athletic on Friday night. The result guarantees the Blues' Premier Division football next season and afterwards, O'Connor spoke ab
Waterford striker Michael O'Connor couldn't hide his delight after his brace clinched a 2-0 win away to St. Patrick's Athletic on Friday night.
The result guarantees the Blues' Premier Division football next season and afterwards, O'Connor spoke about how the win was just one step towards the team's end-of-season target.
"We wanted to win our four remaining games," O'Connor said. "I thought against Dundalk we were unlucky to lose 1-0. Coming to St. Pat's is not easy either, we've beaten them twice here this season now. It's great to come here and get the three points."
O'Connor, who is on loan from Linfield, opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the sixth minute, before sealing the win with a brilliant 81st-minute header from a Sam Bone cross.
Talking through his first goal he said: "I told Shane Duggan he's no good any penalties any more so I had to take over! I stepped up, it's not easy but I put it away in the end," before adding of his second: "Me and Sam Bone have a good connection and he said to me at half time 'when I get on the ball I'm going to lift it' so I knew what he was going to do and I judged it to perfection to be fair."
The 21-year-old also praised the away support, saying: "The supporters have been excellent, they've traveled with us all over Ireland. They're a credit to the club and I'm glad we got the three points for them tonight."
Next up for Waterford is a home game against Sligo Rovers on Tuesday, something O'Connor is looking forward to, saying: "Hopefully I push on and get a few more goals towards the end of the season. Obviously, we know we're safe now so it's all about hitting targets for us.
"The pressure's off, we've set a target of how many points we want in the next couple of games and there's three gone tonight already."
Waterford are now safe in seventh position in the table but could close the gap on Sligo in sixth with a win on Tuesday.
