Gareth Cronin believes Waterford United's timely victory over St Patrick's Athletic on Friday will count for nothing if his side fail to beat fellow strugglers Bray Wanderers this weekend.

New manager Cronin saw his bottom-of-the-table side record their first league win of the season - after some 21 attempts - at Richmond Park and now has Bray in his sights.

Bray led Shelbourne by two goals on Friday but collapsed spectacularly and gifted the Dublin side a 3-2 win which saw Pat Fenlon's men move top of the table.

And Bray's failure to put the game to bed means there are now just three points between them and  rejuvenated Waterford.

"Obviously Bray are the target for us," says former Dublin City assistant Cronin.  "There's a bit of a cut-off after them as Longford and UCD are comfortably clear.

"We have only one team in our sights.  Our win and Bray's defeat helps us but the lads know it'll count for nothing unless we go and beat them at home this week."

Cronin succeeded Mike Kerley three weeks ago and has revitalised a side that has struggled badly this season.

Alan Cawley's first minute strike handed Waterford an early lead against St Patrick's but Cronin concedes his side were fortunate to hold out for full points.

"St Pats were well worth the draw, they missed a host of chances but we got the rub of the green whereas we hadn't in previous weeks. It was a mental thing really for the players."

He continued:  "They had forgotten how to win and you could see the fear in their faces when they went ahead.  It was a case of 'here we go again, we're going to lose heroically'.

"But sometimes it's a case of being a lucky manager, not a good manager, and we certainly got the luck on Friday.

"Having not won a game we were a little nervy and perhaps dropped too deep and invited them on to us.  But that's human nature and when players aren't used to winning they do that.

"But we saw it through with some last-ditch defending and tackling to win three important points."