The practice seems to have done them some good for, having had their number reduced for the third time in five games at Tolka Park last night, Shelbourne still managed to salvage a win that moved them into third place in the Premier Division table.

A week ago Waterford had gone home from Dalymount with the points thanks to a spectacular long-range effort, but this time it was Greg Costello who found the net from almost 30 yards to provide Dermot Keely's team with a little consolation at the end of what has been a pretty awful week for their club.

Such a result didn't look on the cards given the way the home side performed in the opening half but, after Dessie Baker had been sent off in the 45th minute for a challenge from behind on Alan Reynolds, Shelbourne steadily improved and at the end they were worth their third win in four games.

Whether the team is beginning to demonstrate an ability to start hauling back the leaders, though, remains in doubt. The side remains unsettled, the sendings-off are hardly helping, and, the free-kick aside, they rarely managed to look all that convincing last night against a side that once again looked pretty average.

Last night, at least, they avoided conceding any more of the daft goals Keely has identified as their greatest failing and they finally started to display one quality of would-be champions - they won a game despite playing badly. Now all they have to do is master taking the points when they play well.

They were helped too by Waterford's apparent inability to take control when the referee had handed them the advantage. Barry Wood looked capable of snatching something around the home side's box, but there was little support from midfield and Alan Gough wasn't called on once to make a decent save over the second half of the match.

If the lack of punch displayed by his side surprised United manager Mike Flanagan it must have thrilled Keely for when his side had lost players in the earlier games, against St Patrick's when Pat Scully walked, and in Cork last week when both Greg Costello and Tony McCarthy made early exits, his side had actually gone on to have the better of the time remaining but, crucially, they had lost both times.

To make matters worse, before last night's incident Shelbourne had been playing particularly poorly and, on balance, they were fortunate still to be on level terms with their visitors at the break.

United, while none too compelling in their approach either, had had a couple of chances to capitalise on some slack marking, but they really should have taken the lead in the 26th minute when Wood stole away from his marker only to head John Frost's free-kick against the underside of the bar.

The best the locals could do was a neatly worked five-man move which Declan Geoghegan started by picking up possession just inside his own half and Pat Fenlon finished with a disappointingly weak shot that drifted to the left of the target. The closest they came to scoring, however, was when Stephen Geoghegan hit the woodwork for the home side just before the break, although last season's top scorer did look to have handled as he brought Baker's cross down. That fact served only to distract the Waterford defenders who busied themselves appealing to the referee rather than closing down the the striker. The error quickly became irrelevant as the first shot came back off the foot of the post and the follow-up attempt by Eoin Heery was deflected harmlessly across the face of the goal.

SHELBOURNE: Gough; Heery, Campbell, McCarthy, D Geoghegan; D Baker, Fenlon, Costello, Sheridan; S Geoghegan, Trebble. Subs: Fitzgerald and Gifford for Sheridan and Campbell (65 mins),

WATERFORD: N Devine; Smith, Riordan, McGrath, Frost; Gannon, Reynolds, Harkin, Griffin; Lacey, Wood. Subs: Scully for Lacey (80 mins).

Referee: G Perry (Dublin).