Sligo Rovers scored their second win of the season as they beat bottom of the table Waterford United 3-1 in an entertaining eircom League Premier Division contest at The Showgrounds this evening.
The home side got off to a dream start when Paul McTiernan sidefooted home from six yards on six minutes following good work by Keith Foy and Matthew Judge on the left.
However, United replied within three minutes when Brendan Hughes drove home from close range after latching on to a Gavin Doyle knockdown from Ian Fraher's corner.
Both sides had plenty of chances during an open first half, but Rovers upped the tempo after the break and goals from man of the match Judge and substitute Sean Flannery gave The Bit o' Red all three points to move them to fifth in the table, level on points with Shelbourne.
An entertaining first half saw both sides create several clearcut openings as both teams pressed forward at every opportunity.
Indeed Waterford gave the home supporters a fright as early as the third minute when right back Patrick Flynn's cross from the right landed on goalkeeper John O'Hara's crossbar.
That scare seemed to spur Rovers on and they opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Foy played a one-two with Judge before his centre invited a close range finish from the in-rushing McTiernan.
That setback failed to stifle United's sense of adventure and they continued to ask questions of the Rovers defence with a series of dangerous crosses.
And their endeavour was rewarded in the 15th minute when Hughes found the net from close range to level the match. The Blues continued to impose their game on their hosts and Doyle could have put them in fornt minutes later but he fluffed his shot straight at O'Hara with just the 'keeper to beat.
Doyle also spurned another chance when he drove low and wide of the Rovers goal as United's incisive attacking play belied their lowly position at the foot of the table. Soon after, Thomas Hawkins blazed wide from another good position, but Rovers hit back when McTiernan and Judge combined but the latter's shot drifted harmlessly over Fyffe's crossbar.
The industrious McTiernan then fed the ball into into Judge's feet around the halfway mark, before the former Tottenham man raced towards goal before driving a 30 yard shot over Jimmy Fyffe's goal.
A McTiernan burst from midfield forced a corner towards the end of the first half, but Judge's headed effort was easily gatherered by Fyffe.
The last action of the opening period saw James Chambers almost capitalise on a slack backpass from Foy, but the alert O'Hara was quick off his line to avert the danger.
Rovers began the second half with obvious conviction and McTiernan was unlucky not to break through on a couple of occasions.
In the 53rd minute, a Foy free-kick on the right put the Waterford backline under immense pressure before Dublin referee Pat Whelan adjudged that there was a foul on Fyffe.
O'Hara was called into action in the 63rd minute when a superb centre from Hawkins saw Chambers' powerful header force the Sligo 'keeper into a finger-tip save. Krystian Lambersici forced another fine save from the resulting corner, but Rovers capitalised to go in front on the 65th minute.
Captain Chris Deans and Lambersici misjudged a ball into the box and Judge beat Fyffe to the ball to loop a superbly executed shot to the net.
Influential midfielder Conor O'Grady then released McTiernan in a one-on-one with substitute Kenny Browne, but the United man stood firm to keep the Sligoman at bay.
Rovers finally added the third goal their industry deserved in the 80th minute when substitute Jason McCartney's deep cross from the left found Adam Hughes at the back post and he unselfishly squared for the unmarked Flannery to sidefoot home.
Sligo Rovers: John O'Hara, Gavin Peers, Keith Foy, Michael McNamara, Liam Burns, Conor O'Grady, Adam Hughes, Fahrudin Kudozovic, Paul McTiernan (Sean Flannery 77), Matthew Judge, Gary Curran (Jason McCartney 60).
Waterford United: Jimmy Fyffe, Patrick Flynn, Kristian Lambersici, Chris Deans, Brendan Hughes (Kenny Browne 71), Stephen Grant, Paul McCartney, Gavin Doyle, Ian Fraher (Daryl Kavanagh 69), Thomas Hawkins (Andrezej Poleczwak 69), James Chambers.
