Waterford United 0 Dublin City 1:Waterford United had hoped to achieve their first win of the season against newly-promoted Dublin City but the visitors had other ideas as they proved to be the stronger side and plundered all three points from the RSC last night.
In a game that only flowed in patches, City broke the deadlock four minutes into the second half with a delightful goal from David Freeman, his fourth strike of the campaign to date.
Robbie Hedderman began the move when he won the ball from James Chambers in the middle of the pitch and delivered a pin-point pass to Freeman out on the wing.
The striker cut in sharply from the left and, on the run, unleashed a weighted lob that soared over the head of the advancing goalkeeper Jimmy Fyffe.
Enthused by the goal, City moved up a gear and Freeman almost doubled his tally on the hour when his shot from a David McGill pass came back into play off the crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten.
However, United refused to panic and only a superb, acrobatic save by Gary Rogers prevented them from equalising in the 71st minutes. Substitute Gavin Doyle broke from midfield and skilfully threaded the ball through for Darryl Kavanagh but his blistering shot from 16 yards was turned out by the goalkeeper for a corner.
WATERFORD UNITED: Fyffe, Flynn, Hughes, Deans, Browne, Grant (Colfer, 75 minutes), Chambers, McCarthy, Hawkins (Polewczak, 22 minutes), Fraher (Doyle, 56 minutes), Kavanagh.
DUBLIN CITY: Rogers, Brennan, Hedderman, Malcolm, Whelehan, Crowley, McGill, McDonnell (Keely, half-time), McCarthy (Collins, 38; Pender, 76 minutes)), Freeman, Rooney.
Referee: A Buttimer (Cork)