National League Premier Division/ Sligo Rovers 3 Waterford United 1: Waterford United appeared to be on course for a share of the spoils until a slip-up in their defence allowed Matthew Judge in for a crucial 65th-minute goal at the Showgrounds on Saturday evening.

Jimmy Fyffe raced from goal in an effort to cut out the danger as Sligo powered forward but, with the United defence absent, Judge found himself in acres of space before lofting the ball high into the corner of an empty net.

The home side then led for the second time in the game, Paul McTiernan having opened the scoring after five minutes of the first half, following good play by Keith Boyd.

Waterford squared the match on 13 minutes when Ian Fraher's well directed corner-kick was touched on by Gavin Doyle for Brendan Hughes to apply the finish from close range.

Sligo substitutes Jason McCartney and Seán Flannery linked up in the 69th minute for Flannery to drill the ball past Kiely.

The visitors were on top during the opening 45 minutes with their 4-5-1 formation causing all sorts of problems for the home side.

Gavin Doyle and James Chambers had chances to rescue the visitors but Sligo managed to hang on.

Waterford manager Mike Kerley was disappointed but praised his team for their fighting spirit after falling behind so early. "Silly mistakes are costing us and we were always chasing the game after Sligo scored their second goal, which was a killer. But we have a great young side who are playing very good football," he said.

SLIGO ROVERS: O'Hara, Peers, Foy, McNamara, Burns, O'Grady, Hughes, Kudozovic, McTiernan (Flannery, 77 mins), Curran (McCartney, 59 mins), Judge.

WATERFORD UNITED: Fyffe, Flynn, Hughes (Browne, 71 mins), Deans, Lambersici, Chambers, Grant, McCartney, Doyle, Fraher (Kavanagh, 69 mins), Hawkins (Poleczwak, 69 mins).

Referee: P Whelan (Dublin).