The Blues are safe!
Waterford interim head coach Matt Lawlor celebrates after ensuring the club will play in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division next season Photo: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Waterford FC can start planning for next season’s Premier Division campaign after they came through nail-biting promotion/relegation play-off this evening against Bray Wanderers.
A topsy turvy season for the Blues looked set to end in relegation to the First Division when Conor Knight gave the Wicklow side the lead at Tolka Park after just seven minutes.
However, that lead lasted only 13 minute before on-loan Shamrock Rovers star Conan Noonan levelled up the game with a brilliant individual effort after a well worked short corner routine.
The remainder of the first half and into second half were incredibly tense as both teams pushed for a winning goal that would have secured Premier Division football for next season.
In the end, the game was decided 16 minute from the end when Sam Glenfield drilled a superb shot home from 25 yards out.
The tensions that had been bubbling away reached boiling point in injury time when a flashpoint ended with Waterford’s Navajo Bakboord and Bray’s Harvey Warren being sent off but that’s just a footnote on a night where a dismal run to the end of the season can be put behind the Blues as they can look forward to another season of top flight football.
