League Report: Waterford 2-2 Derry City

Junior Quitirna celebrates scoring the opening goal for Waterford during their 2-2 draw with Derry City at the RSC on Tuesday, 2 November 2021.

Junior Quitirna celebrates scoring the opening goal for Waterford during their 2-2 draw with Derry City at the RSC on Tuesday, 2 November 2021. Credit: Hugh de Paor (ETPhotos)

Waterford conceded a last minute goal to Derry City at the RSC on Tuesday night and so are denied the opportunity to jump to joint seventh place in the table and ease their relegation worries.

The hosts were leading 2-1 in the 93rd minute only to concede a corner which ultimately led to Cameron McJannet getting a Derry City equaliser that they probably deserved over the course of the match.

Marc Bircham’s side got off to the best possible start with a goal in the third minute.

Phoenix Patterson and Jack Stafford combined well down the left and when the latter played the ball into the box Junior Quitirna was quickest to react and he blasted the ball past Nathan Gartside in the Derry goal.

Waterford lost right back Darragh Power early on but it did not impact the momentum they got from the early goal, and although the game was scrappy at times, they were generally in control up to the 30th minute of the match.

Derry scored their first equaliser in the 30th minute, somewhat against the run of play. James Akintunde did well to get past two Waterford defenders and when he fired the ball across the box the experienced Danny Lafferty was on hand at the far post to fire the ball past Paul Martin.

It did not take Waterford long to recover from this setback however and they were back in front in the 39th minute.

A training ground free kick saw the ball reach the head of Anthony Wordsworth and his header across the box was met by the unmarked Grey Halford who headed the ball past Nathan Gartside.

There was a raft of substitutions by both sides in the second half but Ruaidhri Higgins’ changes seemed to have the greater impact. Former Waterford player Bastien Hery saw a lot of the ball and Will Fitzgerald on the right wing put in a number of dangerous crosses.

Derry exerted a lot of pressure in the closing stages and for a long while Waterford seemed to have weathered the storm and were on course for the vital three points that would greatly have assisted their immediate objective of getting out of the relegation zone.



Their resistance was finally broken in the 93rd minute however, a Joe Thomson corner was only partially cleared and Cameron McJannet blasted the ball to the net from two meters.

The draw leaves Waterford in eighth place, one point above Finn Harps while Derry City remain in fourth place and hanging on for that vital European qualification spot.

Waterford: Paul Martin; Greg Halford, Niall O'Keeffe, Cameron Evans, Darragh Power (Kyle Ferguson, 12), Jack Stafford, Romero Ronaldo Greene (Shane Griffin, 65), Junior Quitirna (Isaac Tshipamba, 51), Anthony Wordsworth; John Martin, Phoenix Patterson.

Subs not used: Kyle Cooke, George Forrest, Jeremie Milambo, Jamal Dupree, Callum Stringer.

Booked: Darragh Power (7), John Martin (23), Cameron Evans (70), Jack Stafford (91)

Derry City: Nathan Gartside; Cameron McJannet, Ciaran Coll (William Fitzgerald), Eoin Toal (c), Daniel Lafferty (Patrick Ferry), Joe Thompson, Jack Malone, Ronan Boyce (Jamie McGonigle), Junior, Evan Mclaughlin (Bastian Hery 46), James Akintunde.



Subs not used: Jack Lemoignan, Marc McChrystal, Michael Harris,Darren Cole

Booked: Eoin Toal (55).

Referee: Graham Kelly

Attendance: 1,629

Extratime.com Player of the Match: Niall O’ Keeffe (Waterford).

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