St Patrick's Athletic (2)

St Patrick's Athletic 2 - Waterford 1

GOALS FROM MATTY Smith and Nahum Melvin-Lambert were enough for St Patrick's Athletic to see off Waterford 2-1 at Richmond Park tonight.

The victory moves the Inchicore side level on points with Shamrock Rovers although they were far from convincing on the night.

Waterford attacker Junior Quitirna reduced the arears from the penalty spot to set up a grandstand finish.

The visitors with four wins in their last five had the better of it early on with Prince Mutswunguma and Junior – who attacked with zest and fervour – causing problems for the Pats rear guard without carving out a clear-cut chance.

Smith gave the Saints the lead midway through the opening half as he swept home a loose ball from just inside the area after the ball fell to him via a ricochet off Niall O'Keefe.

The first half petered out as the hosts controlled proceedings without getting out of second gear as Chris Forrester and Melvin-Lambert missed half chances to double the lead.

Lambert almost doubled Pats' advantage just after the interval as he spun and shot just wide from inside the Blues area.

Waterford should have levelled 12 minutes into the second half, Junior dispossessed Paddy Barrett and went rampaging through on goal before unleashing a left footed effort that flashed the wrong side of the post.

They were made pay as Stephen O'Donnell's charges went up the other end and made it two-nil.

Billy King did brilliantly to keep the ball in play and he fed Ian Bermingham who stood the ball up for Lambert to nod home from close range.

Marc Bircham's charges never gave in and they halved the deficit with 25 minutes remaining when Junior converted from the spot after he was felled by Lee Desmond in the area.

The final 10 minutes were end to end as both sides searched for the next goal with a crucial intervention from Darragh Power keeping his side in the game as substitute Jason McClelland looked certain to tap home.

The Munster outfit pressed hard for an equalising goal and had a strong penalty appeal turned down by John McLoughlin in the 95th minute but St Pats held on for a hard-fought win.

Desmond was stretchered off at the end with what looked a horrible head injury after a nasty collision with Vitezslav Jaros, both players receiving lengthy treatment.

© the42.ie

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St Patrick's Athletic 2 - Waterford 1

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