Christie Pattison’s strike guides Waterford past Sligo Rovers after game delayed by turf war
Sligo Rovers 0 Waterford 1
Keith Long's Waterford side are up to seventh in the table
Christie Pattison's second-half strike was the difference as Waterford beat Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds which sees the Blues move ahead of Rovers into seventh place in the table.
The game got the go-ahead after it was delayed by 15 minutes as officials were unhappy that a patch of artificial turf used in the goalmouth.
After it was pulled off, the game got the green light.
Sligo came into this game looking for a first win since their last meeting with Waterford on Good Friday.
John Russell's men had lost three of their last five, drawing two, and one point separated the two sides.
Keith Long's men's recent form was slightly better than Sligo's with one win in their last five, two draws and two defeats.
Injuries mean John Russell had a depleted squad, with Max Mata returning and Rein Smit making his first start. Seven teenagers made the bench for the Bit O'Red.
Long made three changes from last week's defeat to Derry City; Kacper Radkowski, Pattisson and Dean McMenamy all came into the team.
The visitors were looking threatening early on, and were denied by a brilliant save from Ed McGinty after 20 minutes.
The hosts then enjoyed a good spell, putting plenty of pressure on Sam Sargeant's goals, with Stefan Radosavljevic and Connor Malley causing problems.
Despite that, the sides could not be separated at the half-way point. Just seconds had elapsed after the re-start when the visitors went ahead.
Christie Pattison caught the ball perfectly on the half valley, beating McGinty with a fine strike.
And they were almost celebrating again minutes later but a great save from McGinty denied the visitors a second goal as former Sligo player Pádraig Amond tried to get on the end of Darragh Power's throw.
Amond's free-kick was blocked on 55 minutes, before Radosavljevic curled an effort wide of the post.
McGinty was stretching on 87 minutes to try and get a hand on Rowan McDonald's effort from range, but the shot had too much height.
Sligo Rovers: McGinty, Wilson, Wiggett, Denham, Hutchinson, Radosavljevic (Hartmann, 71), Malley, Chapman (Elding, 71), Niall Morahan, Smit, Mata.
Waterford: Sargeant, Power, Horton, Radkowski, Leahy, McDonald, McCormack (Evans, 84), Pattison (Asamoah, 72), McMenamy (O'Keeffe, 75), Parsons, Amond.
Ref: Gavin Colfer.
