Gilzean breaks the impasse

After the sort of first half that makes drying emulsion seem entertaining, Ian Gilzean stepped in to help St Patrick's Athletic make it eight straight home wins. The defending champions cut the gap on Cork City to just one point at the top of the table.

Well below their best in what was a disappointing contest, St Patrick's still showed their ability to win when playing poorly. If this is the sign of title-winning potential, then this game suggests that the silverware will be staying put for another 12 months.

When they won the title last season Gilzean's ability to score when those around him were playing poorly was often the only thing that kept Pat Dolan's side on the right track. Before last night the big English striker had notched up eight in this campaign and he made it nine just after the break when he popped up on the edge of the six-yard box to turn Martin Russell's cross past Michael Devine.

The game desperately needed the goal for the home side had lacked direction while the visitors looked like a side for whom a draw would mean making the trip home in an open-topped bus. The goal at least forced them to push forward.

The home crowd's mood was further improved nine minutes from time when Gilzean moved his season's tally into double figures. This time the former Sligo Rovers striker drove home from the penalty spot after Tim McGrath tripped Martin Reilly, the St Patrick's substitute having beaten the offside trap and broken clear through on goal.

The goal and McGrath's sending-off for the offence ended any hopes that United might have harboured of snatching something out of the game. Having failed to force Trevor Wood into anything approaching a decent save, they could hardly claim to have been hard done by.

Gilzean had a third goal disallowed for offside, but for all the obvious difference in class between these two sides, a greater winning margin would have flattered Liam Buckley's side.

The St Patrick's manager can, however, be pleased with the fact that, at the back, his men contained their opponents while hardly breaking into a sweat.

Waterford could have scored when Karl Gannon's well-rehearsed free from the left was headed low but wide by Dave Kelleher. The ball should have been turned back across the face of the goal where the strikers were forming an orderly queue. That one chance aside, they simply didn't have the guile to test Packie Lynch and co around the area.

Waterford showed little intention of playing ball, in any sense of the term, early on, with the result that while they failed to create even one chance of note in the entire first 45 minutes, they hustled their way through the period without allowing St Patrick's more than a couple of timid Paul Campbell shots, both of which were directed straight at Devine.

The home side's best chance came just before the break when Trevor Molloy's corner was headed down by Gilzean and Stephen McGuinness blasted over from inside the area.

From play, though, there was nothing. The absence of Eddie Gormley might go some way towards explaining the problem. Some blame should fall at the feet of Paul Osam and Martin Russell, neither of whom seemed capable of asserting themselves against one of the division's less feared midfields.

When, in the second half, that began to change, it didn't take long for the champions' fortunes to change for the better.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Wood; McGuinness, Lynch, Hawkins; Croly, Campbell, Osam, Russell, Doyle; Gilzean, Molloy. Subs: Reilly for Molloy (76 mins), Devereux for Campbell (84 mins)

WATERFORD UNITED: Devine; Power, Riordan, Smith, McGrath; Gannon, Reynolds, Keith, Kelleher; Brown, Kabia.

Referee: J Stacey (Athlone).