Waterford United 1 Longford Town 1Joint leaders Waterford United maintained their unbeaten run at the RSC last night when Willie Bruton scored his fourth goal in five games to save the Blues' blushes two minutes from full-time.

The pendulum appeared to swing United's way on 73 minutes when their player-manager, Alan Reynolds, was taken down in the penalty area by the Longford captain, Barry Ferguson. Darryl Murphy's penalty was poor, however, and the Longford goalkeeper, Stephen O'Brien, got down well to save.

Five minutes later, the hard-working Alan Kirby passed to John Martin in front of the Waterford goal. Goalkeeper Dan Connor parried the shot but the ball ricocheted into the net off the chest of defender David Breen for a cruel own-goal.

WATERFORD UTD: Connor; O'Brien (Clifford, 61 mins), Leahy, Reynolds, Breen, Purcell, Sullivan, Mulcahy, Murphy, Bruton, Waters. Subs not used: Hayes, Carey, Phelan, Hennessy.

LONGFORD TOWN: O'Brien; Murphy, Prunty (Sheridan, 81 mins), Dillon, Ferguson, Keogh (Byrne, 67 mins), Kirby, Perth, Keegan, Barrett, Martin. Subs not used: Francis, Baker, Dempsey.

Referee: D McKeon (Dublin).