Waterford United lifted themselves off the bottom of the table at the RSC last night with only their second home win of the campaign to date. For a long time it seemed as if neither side would score as the poor play reflected their lowly positions. In the first half, the closest the fans got to a goal was a Fergal Coleman snap-shot from 20 yards, which struck the outside of the Waterford side netting.

The deadlock was finally broken on 55 minutes. Jered Stirling took a free from the right and Stephen Grant climbed above the defence to direct a glancing header past Justin O'Neill in the Drogheda goal.

Waterford nearly paid for sitting back on their lead. Coleman was just wide from 15 yards and Derek Thornton got a weak header on target from six yards.

WATERFORD UNITED: Devine; Smith, Frost, Reynolds, Riordan, McGrath, Kirby, Griffin, Grant, Markey, Stirling.

DROGHEDA UNITED: O'Neill; A Murphy, Boyle, Impey, Maher, O'Keeffe, Fritzell, C Murphy, Powel, Coleman, Thornton. Subs: Beggs for A Murphy (67), McCann for Powel (72), Byrne for Boyle (82).

Referee: A O'Regan (Cork).