eircom National League First Division

Date	31/10/2002
Score (Blues First)	1 - 0
Venue	RSC, Waterford
Kick Off	7.30 pm
Attendance	920
Weather	Gusty rain
Referee	?????
Goal Scorers	Rea
Cards	Yellow: Di Lella
Pitch	Soft

Last week we were given the run around by Finn harps in the RSC, but held on to gain a valuable point. With Jimmy changing around his team over the past few weeks the Blues haven't performed well, but were still on top of the league. Dundalk always give you a tough battle, but hopes were high that the Blues could move further ahead at the top of the table.

The match kicked off at a fast pace with fireworks exploding at every side of the ground on what was to be a horror night for the Lilywhites. Waterford found their match tempo early and pressed the opposition back into their own half. Even though we had the major share of the play we were not creating clear cut chances for our strikers. O'Sullivan and Dixon's movement off the ball left a lot to be desired as Kev (theirs only one kev O'Brien, he's got the heart of a lion, he's got no hair, but we don't care, walking in a Blues wonderland)and Gus found it hard to pick out our forwards. We attacked the Dundalk defence at every opportunity but seemed to dwell on the ball and not whip it into the box went chances arose. When we finally got a quality ball into the box, Alex (DIXON, DIXON, DIXON his name is Alex Dixon) missed a chance from 6 yards out in front of an open goal. His shot was go weak that a Dundalk player was able to walk back 40 yards and stop the ball on the line, at this stage it was time to bring on Darryl Murphy. Half time arrived and Dundalk would have been happier going down the tunnel as Wayne's only movement in the half was to grab his head as Dixon missed his chance.

The second half started as the first finished with the Blues totally on top. Ross who had lost his form over the past few weeks, started to show us his real side as he battled hard for ball and starting to take on his marker and get balls into the penalty box. At this stage the town goal was living a charmed life and it was only a matter of time before we eventually scored, but who would have guessed it? For the last four years I have been watching Brendan Rea running the length of the pitch for corners, never getting near any of them and then having to sprint back to centre half. On Halloween night in 2002 Big Brendan (Oh Rea,Oh Rea,Oh Rea,Oh Rea,Oh Rea,Oh Rea,Oh Rea,Oh Rea,Oh Rea) jogged up for a corner, Kevin Waters sent it over and Rea rose at the near post to head the ball into the net. Usually miracles are seen around Christmas time, but Saint Halloween sent us one early. The Blues then sat back for 5 minutes which in recent games has been their down fall, but they weathered the storm and with the constant shouting of Captain Frosty we finally pushed on again and ran out comfortable winners.

We now have 5 point lead over the rest but with Limerick only playing Kilkenny expect them to be within 4 points of us for next weeks Munster derby in Jackman Park.