Waterford ended a poor run of form with an important victory at Belfield thanks to Dean Walsh's late volley against UCD AFC. Waterford dominated the opening proceedings at the UCD Bowl and took an early lead through the returning Zack Elbouzedi. El
Waterford ended a poor run of form with an important victory at Belfield thanks to Dean Walsh's late volley against UCD AFC.
Waterford dominated the opening proceedings at the UCD Bowl and took an early lead through the returning Zack Elbouzedi. Elbouzedi suffered a dislocated shoulder during the 1-0 win over Bahrain in the Toulon Tournament for the Republic of Ireland U-21s, and he wasted no time to return to the scoresheet as well.
After he was found in the area, Elbouzedi neatly turned away from the attentions of the UCD defence before he fired into the bottom corner in the seventh minute.
UCD handed a debut to striker Sam Byrne, who was signed following his release by Bohemians, and he almost opened his Student account in the 19th minute, but his free-kick was deflected wide.
Waterford continued to create problems throughout the first-half and almost doubled their lead seven minutes from the break. Once again, neat build-up play from the Blues resulted in JJ Lunney in space inside the area, but his low effort was well saved.
The Students came out at the break with a much-improved tempo and performance, and were rewarded mid-way through the second-half. Liam Kerrigan, who only recently completed his move from Sligo Rovers, found space in the area to fire past Matthew Connor in the 68th minute.
With four minutes to go, Waterford broke the Students' hearts to deny them a point. From Georgie Poynton's corner, John Kavanagh looped the ball back over the defence and Dean Walsh found the net with a brilliant volley. Waterford move above Cork City up to seventh place whilst UCD remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier Division table.
