Waterford boss Keith Long praised his team's lightning quick counter-attacking style against Shamrock Rovers after the Munster side left the home of the champions with all three points in a Bank Holiday Monday shock at Tallaght Stadium.
The visitors took an early lead thanks to a third-minute own goal from Rovers keeper Leon Poehls only for Johnny Kenny to equalise five minutes later. Most observers assumed normal order would be resumed and Stephen Bradley’s would take control from there.
"I don’t know what it was like for the neutral but it certainly seemed like an enjoyable game, a fast tempo game, lots of action around the penalty area - that’s what supporters want to come and see," the Dubliner said.
"We got ahead early from a set play, then we conceded from a set play. We’ve got no excuses, we need to defend the back post better at that moment. Then we go ahead with a Dean McMenamy goal and we’re 2-1 ahead with barely 20 minutes played. So there’s a long way to go and literally anything can happen.
"Rovers dominated more of the ball but I thought we carried a real counter-attacking threat with the pace we have in our team so we always had questions for Rovers when we needed them.
"We defended when we needed to, we got a bit of luck - they hit the crossbar, they hit the post. Coming to Tallaght, to come away with any sort of result, you have to ride your luck a bit.
"We executed in the moments, showed real quality and executed those moments on the counter-attack with the aggression we have in the team."
The win made it maximum points from two away trips over the long weekend after their 1-0 win in Sligo on Friday evening.
All that means newly promoted Waterford are comfortable in sixth position on 19 points, well clear of bottom side Dundalk on nine points and Drogheda who are on 14.
"It was important to get the results that we got over the weekend because you can see the other results around the league, there’s teams winning and taking points off each other every week," added Long.
"We just focus on the next game, that’s Dundalk. Delighted, obviously, to come to Tallaght and win - nobody would have expected that - but we probably got them at a good time with some of the injuries they have in their squad, some of their players not quite fully fit, all that type of stuff.
"We came here with belief, we came here with confidence, we came here with a plan and the boys executed it extremely well, so it’s great to win but we can only focus on the next game. We want to try and improve our home form at the RSC and that’s the challenge for us next.
"That shows tactical dexterity from the players to be able to bounce between formations, particularly with a quick turnaround. It helped that we played this system before, the boys understand their roles and responsibilities. We’ve tweaked things, we 've bounced between different formations.
"A team like Rovers occupy your last line, they flood your last line with forwards and extra bodies, we were able to soak up the pressure, counter and transition from defence into attack quickly.
"When you’ve got a striker as evergreen and with the quality that Padraig Amond has, you’ve always got a chance."
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