Top of the league! Derry City win in Waterford thanks to bizarre own goal
Candystripes announce two new signings before kick-off
Waterford 0
Derry City 1
A bizarre own goal by Waterford goalkeeper Louis Jones gifted Derry City the win which takes them top of the Premier Division with eight games to go.
The goalkeeper was under no pressure to collect a header from Ben Doherty, but somehow spilled the ball just over the line to hand the Candystripes a goal which proved to be enough to claim all three points.
With Shelbourne dropping points at home to Bohemians, it means that Derry City are now leading the way at the top of the Premier Division on goal difference having played a game more.
It is now successive clean sheets and successive 1-0 away wins for Ruaidhri Higgins and his players, who were far from their best on the night.
The Candystripes announced two brand new signings just an hour before kick-off, with defender Duncan Idehan and winger Sean Robertsson becoming the second and third new faces to arrive at the Brandywell this week. Former Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom was named in the starting eleven just two days after joining the club.
It took half an hour for either team to threaten, but it was Derry who came close. Adam O’Reilly fed a forward pass to winger Paul McMullan, who took a touch before drilling it hard past Jones and onto the base of the post.
Waterford could well have taken the lead right on the stroke of half time when Barry Baggley’s free kick into the area saw Grant Horton try an overhead kick, but his miscue sent the ball right into the path of Darragh Leahy, whose snapshot from six yards was brilliantly saved by Brian Maher.
Waterford came so close to taking the lead in spectacular fashion 10 minutes into the second half. A long punt forward by Jones, was chested down by Padraig Amond into the path of strike partner Christie Pattison, who turned sharply onto his left foot and sent a brilliant effort from 20 yards past the despairing dive of Maher, with the post saving Derry City.
The Candystripes then took the lead in those bizarre circumstances on the hour when Camron Dummigan’s high cross was headed back across goal by Doherty, and while it looked an easy catch for Jones, the goalkeeper let the ball slip through his grasp with the referee’s assistant signalling that the ball had crossed the line.
The goal, as strange as it was, put some spark into Derry’s play thereafter and they looked suddenly eager for a second, and they almost had it when Pat Hoban whipped the ball right across the face of goal to the back post, with Michale Duffy just inches from connecting.
Six minutes of added time gave Waterford some hope and they had the ball in the net when Darragh Power fired in from close range, but an offside flag denied the Blues a late point.
Elsewhere in the Premier Division, Drogheda United produced the result of the night as they hammered Sligo Rovers 7-0 to boost their chances of survival.
Teams
Waterford: Jones, Power, Burke, Horton, McDonald, Baggley, Amond, Leahy, Glenfield (McMenemy 78’), Pattison (Arubi 83’), Radkowski.
Derry City: Maher, Coll, Connolly, Doherty (S McEleney 86’), Wisdom, O’Reilly, Patching, Dummigan (Diallo 65’), McMullan (Robertson 78’), Duffy, Hoban (Mullen 78’) .
Referee: Neil Doyle.