MATCH PREVIEW: Waterford FC -v- Treaty United (29/10/2022)
SSE Airtricity First Division Play-Off Second Leg
Waterford FC -v- Treaty United
Saturday 29th October 2022
Kick-Off: 7:45 pm
Referee: Paul Norton
Waterford FC will look to secure a First Division Play Off final spot on Saturday as Danny Searle’s side welcome Treaty United to the RSC with a three-goal aggregate advantage.
The winners of this tie will face the winners of Galway United v Longford Town (with the winner of that playing the second-from-bottom Premier Division side).
The Blues come into the game on the back of a 4-1 win on Wednesday night against the Shannonsiders in the semi final first leg. Goals from Phoenix Patterson (x2), Junior Quitirna and Sean Guerin’s own goal ensured a win to set up Saturday’s return leg.
The Blues took the lead through a Phoenix Patterson strike from Yassine En-Neyah’s through ball, before the golden boot winner doubled his tally just before the half-hour mark.
The home side halved the deficit past the hour mark thanks to an Enda Curran penalty, but the Blues’ two-goal cushion was restored just eight minutes later through Junior Quitirna. The night’s scoring was wrapped up in injury time when Guerin put through his own net after some good play from the Blues outside the Treaty penalty area down the right.
The side’s last meeting in the RSC came at the start of October when the Blues ran out 3-0 winners. Junior Quitirna opened the scoring for the Blues before a Raul Uche finish doubled the Blues lead just before halftime in the RSC. Phoenix Patterson wrapped up proceedings on 58 minutes to secure all three points for Danny Searle’s side.
From The Dugout: Speaking ahead of Saturday’s match against Treaty United, head coach Danny Searle said:
“Bar a mad five minutes, we were in total control [on Wednesday]. We asked for a professional performance from the lads and that’s what we got.
“It was a different type of game against Treaty with it being the first leg of the play-offs and we wanted to come, be professional and do a job. That’s all we asked and I don’t think I could have asked the players to do anything else.
“We have had tough games against Treaty United this season. We know their strengths and weaknesses and we need to exploit them again if we want to progress in the First Division play-offs. They’ll be raring to go after Wednesday so we need to be prepared for what they throw at us and try to play our usual style of play.”
Team News: Roland Idowu will miss out through injury, while a number of other players will be assessed ahead of the game after picking up knocks on Wednesday night in the first leg.
(Image Credit: Ken Sutton)
