Waterford FC had to settle for a share of the points in the RSC on Friday night against Longford Town despite controlling the game with ten men for much of the second-half.
Keith Long’s started on the front-foot immediately, with Shane Griffin almost playing a pin-point ball in behind the Longford defence to Roland Idowu, only for Longford netminder Jack Brady to clear the danger before Idowu could get a foot on it.
The game was only six minutes old when the Blues found the breakthrough through Roland Idowu. Again Griffin played an exquisite ball through the Longford defence for Idowu to run onto, before the sttacker took control of the ball and fired beyond Brady inside the Longford box to give the Blues a deserved lead.
The visitors began to get into the game more after falling behind so early, as they almost equalised on the 12th-minute mark, only for Aaron Walsh to see his effort rebound off the Waterford crossbar after a dangerous set-piece ball in from Longford mid-season signing Adam Wixted.
And the visitors did find their equaliser after 18 minutes, when midfielder Gary Armstrong’s volleyed effort from 20 yards found it’s way into the corner of Paul Martin’s net after Waterford couldn’t clear the danger properly.
Fortunately for the Blues, the visitors weren’t level for long, as just two minutes later Ryan Burke was fouled in the box by Viktor Serdeniuk, and up stepped Ronan Coughlan to send Brady the wrong way to regain the Blues’ lead – netting his 28th league goal of the season in the process.
Keith Long’s men pushed on from here, seeing most the ball and chances for the remainder of the first-half, the first of which fell to Barry Baggley who fired a free-kick from 25 yards off the Longford crossbar after 33 minutes before Ronan Coughlan’s rebound was cleared off the line by Aaron Walsh.
In stoppage time of the first-half, Connor Parsons got on the end of a Roland Idowu long ball, before finding Baggley on the volley who forced Brady into a fine save – the last action of the first-half.
There were just three minutes on the clock in the second-half when the Blues hit the crossbar once more, this time Romeo Akachukwu seeing his close-range effort rebound back off the Longford crossbar after a Coughlan lay back.
The big moment of the half fell just minute later, when Blues captain Giles Phillips was adjudged to have fouled inside the Waterford box, and was shown a straight red-card by referee Daniel Murphy. Up stepped Beineon O’Brien Whitmarsh who fired beyond Paul Martin to level the scoring once more.
Despite being a man down, Keith Long’s side continued to see much of the ball for the remainder of the half, with Parsons, and substitute duo of Serge Atakayi & Christie Pattisson – both making their competitive debut’s for the club – causing constant headaches for the Longford defence. With 20 minutes remaining, Conor Parsons had an effort deflected narrowly wide, before Parsons again shot just wide after Atakayi found him on the edge of the Longford penalty area.
With time running out, Waterford continued to force the Longford defence deeper and deeper into their own half. Six minutes of additional time were shown, and the chance Waterford were looking for came in the 92nd minute, when Coughlan intercepted Lewis Temple 25 yards out, but curled his effort wide of the Longford goal after finding himself one-on-one with Jack Brady.
The visitors cleverly saw out the remaining minutes of the game, as both sides had to settle for their third draw between the sides already this season. The Blues are back on the road next Friday (14th July), with a Munster derby clash against Treaty United FC in the Markets Field. Kick-off is at 7:45pm.
Waterford FC: Martin; O’Keeffe, Baker, Phillips (c) , Burke; Griffin (66’ Atakayi), Baggley, Parsons (80’ Pattisson), Akachukwu (53’ Cantwell), Idowu; Coughlan.
Longford Town FC: Brady (GK); Elworthy (c) (63’ Boudiaf), Walsh (80’ Magerusan), Temple, Hand, O’Connor (63’ Daly); Armstrong, Serdeniuk, Wixted; O’Brien Whitmarsh, Adeyemo (80’ Guirgi)
Attendance: 1,420.
Image Credit: Ken Sutton
