Waterford 1
Drogheda United 0
Dylan O’Connell reports from RSC Waterford
A POWERFUL STRIKE from Phoenix Patterson following an excellent set-piece routine was the difference on Friday evening as Waterford beat Drogheda United 1-0 at the RSC.
This was a huge game in the context of relegation this season, and the Blues held their nerve against the Drogs, who had Gary Deegan sent off at the start of the second half. The visitors started with a furious pace and nearly scored from a free kick inside two minutes.
After Ronan Murray was brought down by Cameron Evans just outside the area, the forward placed an inch perfect set-piece into the box which found the head of Killian Philips and the midfielder knocked the ball wide.
Waterford response saw brilliant piece of control from Prince Mutswunguma after he caught a cross from Darragh Power. The striker chested the ball down, spun around into space, and fired inches from the target.
Patterson had two excellent chances after this for the Blues, and both were well saved by David Odumosu. Waterford attempted to control the tempo with a short passing game, which was twice undone by Darragh Markey. On both occasions, the ball was played into the path of Jordan Adeyemo, who played through Conor Kane on the overlap.
As crisp as this move was, it was undone each time by a stern Waterford defence which headed away any attempted cross into the area.
The Blues sped up the passing after this, and nearly got lucky when an unmarked John Martin got the ball inside the area. Just before he went to shoot, Kane spread himself for Drogheda and cleared.
Drogheda had the worst possible start to the second half, as Deegan was sent off for a second yellow card just five minutes in. Moments later, a free-kick was given to the Blues at the edge of the area and Anthony Wordsworth played a quick pass to Patterson, who fired in to make it 1-0.
After the game resumed, the attack-minded midfielder got two excellent opportunities to make it 2-0. The first was blocked by Joseph Redmond and the second, a powerful shot from close range, was saved by Odumosu.
Drogheda poured men forward late on, with Odumosu even coming forward for set-pieces. Substitute James Clarke came on and had a shot sail into the hands of Brian Murphy.
James Brown had the last touch of a ball for Drogheda and his attempted cross was blocked by Kyle Ferguson in the final seconds of the game.
Waterford: Brian Murphy; Darragh Power, Cameron Evans (Jack Stafford 67), Kyle Ferguson, Anthony Wordsworth, Junior Quitirna (Greg Halford 74), John Martin, Niall O’Keeffe, Prince Mutswunguma, Phoenix Patterson, Eddie Nolan.
Drogheda United: David Odumosu; James Brown, Conor Kane, Daniel O’Reilly, Darragh Markey (Luke Heeney 45), Gary Deegan, Mark Doyle, Ronan Murray, Killian Philips (James Clarke 83), Jordan Adeyemo, Joseph Redmond.
Referee: Neil Doyle
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