It took three late points from substitute Maurice Shanahan to get Waterford over the finish line at Wexford Park.
Despite leaking an early goal to Seamus Prendergast, Wexford finished strongly before the break. Rory Jacob and Stephen Banville impressed for the hosts who went 0-09 to 1-05 in front.
Richie Foley had a penalty saved for the Deise in the second half, but they came good in the end to post their first win in Allianz Hurling League Division 1.
Colm Bonnar made six changes to the Wexford team that was hammered by Galway in their league opener.
Five players from county champions and Leinster finalists Oulart-the-Ballagh were brought in, including Rory Jacob and Lar Prendergast.
Waterford boss Davy Fitzgerald gave a league debut to Stephen O’Keeffe, the county’s minor goalkeeper in 2009.
The Deise’s Richie Foley, who scored 2-10 in last week’s draw with Dublin, struggled to find his scoring touch today and missed a number of chances he would usually put away.
Jim Berry converted a sixth minute free to move Wexford ahead, but Prendergast scrambled home his goal past Niall Breen, two minutes later, following an initial shot from Shane Casey.
Stephen Banville’s first point was then followed by three on the bounce from Foley.
Banville cut the gap to 1-03 to 0-03 in the 19th minute and to their credit, Wexford managed to outscore Fitzgerald’s side by 0-07 to 0-02 in the lead-up to half-time.
Foley and Thomas Ryan added to Waterford’s tally, while Garrett Sinnott, Harry Kehoe, David Redmond and Jacob saw the Model men nip ahead.
They would have had a goal on the scoreboard late on, only for O’Keeffe to produce a great save when denying Jacob.
But Wexford struggled in the second period, adding just three more points to their total.
Pauric Mahony levelled the sides at 0-09 to 1-06 before Seamus Prendergast was pulled down for a penalty. The normally reliable Foley had his shot saved on the goal-line.
Foley and Ryan pointed soon after to put the Deise ahead again, and substitute Maurice Shanahan made an immediate impact by scoring with his first touch.
Jacob responded to make it 1-09 to 0-10 on the hour mark and the two-point buffer remain until the finish, with Shanahan tagging on two more points for the victors.
