Waterford United 2 Shelbourne 4: In the unlikely event somebody from Glentoran made it to the Regional Sports Centre last night to see their Champions League opponents in action, the report would have been encouraging for Roy Coyle and his Irish League title winners.
The scoreline, there is no denying, confirms that Shelbourne are finally back to winning ways but to judge by this performance the problems that cost them so dearly in recent weeks have not nearly been adequately addressed.
Still, last night was a good deal better than it might have been and Pat Fenlon was surely happy with three points in the circumstances. The home support's spirits were, after all, lifted early on if only for the briefest of spells as Waterford took and then surrendered a lead in the space of less than 60 seconds.
Stephen Yelverton's opening goal for the hosts after 12 minutes was in part the product of poor defending and in part the result of a fine finish that left Dean Delaney helpless to prevent the ball flying into the top left corner. The mix was swiftly reproduced at the other end, however, where the United back four failed to pick up Glen Crowe, who lobbed the oncoming Packie Holden from 15 yards.
David Crawley's set-pieces produced the best chances of the spell that followed and neither the local goalkeeper nor his central defenders coped all that well with what was thrown at them. The three certainly looked completely at sea for the corner from which Stuart Byrne tapped home the game's third goal 25 minutes in and the crowd were suddenly silent.
Pat Fenlon's side now found themselves in a position to take control of the game at the back, where Stuart Byrne was playing in place of Colin Hawkins, but the champions repeatedly looked vulnerable.
In midfield there were far too many errors and up front neither Byrne nor Crowe seemed remotely able to capitalise on the weakness of their opponents.
The Dubliners needed a goal to kill the game off but instead Waterford equalised 13 minutes into the second period, Colm Heffernan riding a couple of half-hearted tackles as he raced down the left and the visiting goalkeeper doing little to prevent the ball falling to Yelverton, who had plenty of time to pick his spot.
From then on Waterford largely dominated but it was Shelbourne who scored a scrappy though still decisive goal when another Crawley corner was flicked into the face of Holden and Owen Heary made it first to the rebound, which he turned home from a couple of yards.
Yelverton might have levelled things again moments later but his finish this time wasn't so good and with the game in its second minute of injury time Glen Fitzpatrick coolly slipped the ball past Holden to wrap up a first league win in six for the visitors.
WATERFORD UNITED: Holden; Brown, Andrews, Mulcahy, Frost; Yelverton, Crowley (Grant, 81 mins), Waters, Heffernan; Sullivan, Bruton (Doyle, 70 mins).
SHELBOURNE: Delaney; Heary, S Byrne, Rogers, Crawley; Baker, Ndo, Crawford, Cahill; J Byrne (Fitzpatrick, 79 mins), Crowe.
Referee: A Kelly (Cork).
