League Report: St. Patrick’s Athletic 2 - 1 Waterford

Saint Patrick’s Athletic joined Shamrock Rovers at the top of the table with a deserved if hard fought 2-1 win over Waterford on Friday evening in Richmond Park.

Goals from Matty Smith and Nahum Melvin-Lambert had the Saints thinking they could push on to go top outright on goal difference but a Blues penalty from Junior Quitirna pegged them back. The Saints held on with Waterford’s winning run of four in the league ending.

Smith put the Saints 1-0 up mid-way through the half with what turned out to be his last touch of the game. It seemed Smith had picked up a hamstring injury just prior to the goal and was standing on the left outside the penalty area when Niall O’Keefe, attempting to clear the ball from Melvin-Lambert, poked it to Smith who ran onto the ball to sweep it home.

The home side had started the game brighter with Cameron Evans doing well to stop Chris Forrester and his quick feet get by him on the 18-yard line and then Billy King hit a low shot just wide of goal inside the first ten minutes.

Junior’s close control on half way allowed him to push on to the edge of the Pat’s area moments later forcing Vitezslav Jaros into a save. Two free kicks conceded by Forrester first and, late in the half, by Alfie Lewis allowed Shane Griffin and Junior try to conjure up an equaliser from a set peice but neither tested Jaros.

That was the best that the Blues had to offer as Pat’s certainly were the stronger team in the opening half.

Melvin-Lambert had an early chance in the second half that he put wide after Darragh Burns robbed the ball off John Martin as he dawdled in the Blues box. On 58 minutes though, Melvin-Lambert made no mistake on the edge of the six yard box heading home Ian Bermingham’s pin-point cross.

Saints supporters might have been thinking about seeing their team add another two goals to send their team top of the table on goal difference until Junior halved the deficit on 64 minutes. He won the penalty kick that he converted with his left foot low down to the left hand side of the Saints goal.

The Blues pressed hard late in the game and had a penalty shout turned down in injury time before a nasty clash of heads between Desmond and Jaros led to a lengthy delay. Desmond needed medical treatment before being stretchered off with the final whistle being blown five minutes from ten o’clock.

The Athletic now sit level on 47 points with Shamrock Rovers who have a three goal superior goal difference and a couple of games in hand – the first of which is against Drogheda United on Sunday. 

St. Patrick's Athletic: Vitezslav Jaros; Sam Bone, Lee Desmond (Sam Curtis 90+8), Paddy Barrett, Ian Bermingham (c); Billy King, Chris Forrester, Alfie Lewis (Jamie Lennon 61), Ben McCormack (Jason McClelland 73), Matty Smith (Darragh Burns 26); Nahum Melvin-Lambert (Rónán Coughlan 73).

Subs not used: Barry Murphy, Kian Corbally, Kyrian Nwoko, Thomas Lonergan. 
Booked: Ben McCormack (45), Paddy Barrett (55). 
Waterford: Brian Murphy; Cameron Evans (Kyle Ferguson 67), Darragh Power, Jack Stafford; Shane Griffin, Eddie Nolan, Niall O'Keeffe (c) (Greg Halford 72), Junior Quitirna; John Martin, Prince Mutswunguma (Jeremie Milambo 72), Phoenix Patterson (Cian Kavanagh 46).
Subs not used: Paul Martin, George Forrest, Max Hutchinson, Isaac Tshipamba, Jamal Dupree . 
Booked: Niall O'Keeffe (28) Eddie Nolan (51). 
Referee: John McLoughlin. 
Attendance: 
extratime.com Player of the Match: Billy King (St. Patrick's Athletic)

In Pictures: Peamount United Media Day https://t.co/Y0wDSmOrd2pic.twitter.com/7vrHwgkGd4

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) August 13, 2021