St. Patrick's Athletic's European hopes received a massive blow on Friday evening as they lost 2-0 at home to Waterford, courtesy of a Michael O'Connor brace. The game was only 30 seconds old when Waterford's Walter Figueira cut in from the left-ha
St. Patrick's Athletic's European hopes received a massive blow on Friday evening as they lost 2-0 at home to Waterford, courtesy of a Michael O'Connor brace.
The game was only 30 seconds old when Waterford's Walter Figueira cut in from the left-hand side before curling a shot at goal. Fortunately for the home side, his effort went about an inch over the bar.
The visitors had the bit between their teeth and Zak Elbouzedi also went close when he hit a fourth-minute shot that Saints 'keeper Barry Murphy turned behind for a corner. It was this set-piece that led to a Waterford penalty after Ciaran Kelly fouled Rob Slevin in the box.
O'Connor made no mistake from the spot and the away side had an early advantage. It wasn't long before they almost doubled their lead when Kevin Lynch's shot was cleared off the line by Lee Desmond.
After a frantic first few minutes, the rest of the first half was low on incident. Mikey Drennan went close for Pat's with a header and JJ Lunney tested Murphy from range before the half-time whistle blew.
The game livened up again just after the hour mark with both Sam Bone and Figueira going close for The Blues. Elbouzedi could have been a bit more selfish after running from the halfway line on 78 minutes.
Instead, he passed to O'Connor who shot wide. Three minutes later, the Waterford striker finally got his second goal when he expertly headed home Bone's inch-perfect cross from the right.
This was enough for a lot of the home crowd as they began to make their way towards the exits, with the taunting chants of the away fans ringing in their ears. A miserable night for Pat's and they will need to dust themselves down before they host Dublin rivals Bohemians in two weeks time.
Saints are now five points behind Bohs and three points behind Derry City with just three games left. Next in the league for Waterford is a home game against Sligo Rovers on Tuesday.
