Town Vs. Longford

[atfconline]

All very quiet over here ahead of the game tomorrow night!

[Acornvilla]

were going to win thats all anyone needs to know :)

[The Insider]

We'd rather let the players do the talking, on the field. Its going to be an interesting game. Athone have been good defensively but only scored three goals, we've yet to keep a cleansheet but are scoring goals. 3 points would be nice but I'd be happy with a point.

[Longfordian]

Draw I reckon. Though a repeat of our last league visit there would do nicely.

[atfconline]

I was going to post about Longford still looking for their first win at ATS following the League Cup game the other week. Said I better just check the stats and make sure before making an eejit of myself. The 5-2 was totally blanked from my mind!

But, with two League goals conceded all season, I think we're safe from that sort of result at least.

[Longfordian]

Yeah I'd say it'll be pretty tight. Hopefully will be there myself, haven't been in Stadio Shelbyville in a while.

[Acornvilla]

i goin for a 4-2 win big mac to be sent of :)

[Martinho II]

we are playin well at the moment.. I am going for a 1-0 win for us ... sweet revenge for the league cup defeat! And I agree with acornvilla brian mac will be sent off for scumlone as he did on numerous occasions for us last season!:eek:

[atfconline]

Don't remember him ever having a particularly bad disciplinary record for us or Cobh. Probably just didn't like playing for you lot! :P

[Longfordian]

Don't remember him ever having a particularly bad disciplinary record for us or Cobh. Probably just didn't like playing for you lot! :P

He didn't have much help but he didn't seem particularly unhappy when scoring against you lot last season, indeed I seem to recall some Athlone complaints about him celebrating excessively !!

[De Town]

Well that was a ****ing joke. I honestly don't think Athlone have better individual players then us judging on last night's display, but they clearly were far better organised than us and worked harder for their teammates than any of our lads. John Lester is the only one who should have a clear conscience about taking his wages this week, he worked his ****** off and got feck all help. Our defence is an absolute shambles. In saying all that about how rubbish we were, we had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside and a certain goal from Hyland blocked on the line from Freeman, so a draw was not totally impossible. But if we keep performing like that, then we're going nowhere fast.

On the sendings off, what a joke the officials are. The Athlone one was a joke. Hynes and your man go up for a header, Hynes may have elbowed him, I didn't see that much tbh. But then they're sort of pushing each other, and then Hynes throws his chest onto your man's shoulder and then goes down holding his face. Linesman then tells the ref to send him off! Unbelievable. Deans was unlucky coz your man dived for the 2nd yellow. Hyland has no complaints. How the linesman thought Freeman was offside for his goal I do not know. Was about 2 yards on. It's been said many times before, but the officials really are shockingly bad.

[Longfordian]

Yeah we have to do something about the defence. Byrne and Kelly have to come in but they look like they've never spent a minute's training working on how to defend. Three of our back four last night are way too slow and the other one was all over the place positionally. A simple ball over the top and Robbie Farrell has the freedom of the park to run through and score, outpacing our defence while he's at it. Farrell was never exactly quick. If you've got slow defenders you don't play a high line up the pitch. It's still early in the season but these are very basic things to be getting wrong in every single match. On the sendings off, agree that Deans was unlucky and Hyland was stupid. Hynes did catch yer man first as well, you could hear the smack as he connected with his face, whether it was intentional or not I don't know.

[Martinho II]

Yeah we have to do something about the defence. Byrne and Kelly have to come in but they look like they've never spent a minute's training working on how to defend. Three of our back four last night are way too slow and the other one was all over the place positionally. A simple ball over the top and Robbie Farrell has the freedom of the park to run through and score, outpacing our defence while he's at it. Farrell was never exactly quick. If you've got slow defenders you don't play a high line up the pitch. It's still early in the season but these are very basic things to be getting wrong in every single match. On the sendings off, agree that Deans was unlucky and Hyland was stupid. Hynes did catch yer man first as well, you could hear the smack as he connected with his face, whether it was intentional or not I don't know.

I am still in shock over what happened.. Its a hell of a long time since our fans were critical of our performance..this is the second time in Lissywoolen this season that Freeman had a goal disallowed..Brian McCarthy should have bein sent off instead of Des Hope.. changes have to be made fast.. its as if town believe that they dont have to work hard.. on paper its a better squad thans athlone.. but athlone are bein trained fierce well and thats the differnce between the two teams.. Victor wasnt too impressed being substituted ..

[De Town]

It was definitely Des Hope that was involved with the Hynes incident, not McCarthy.

[The Insider]

So much for Cousins saying he's going to sort out our defensive problems. We were all over the place, again.. How many goals have we gifted the opposition this season? Thought Deans sending off was a bit harsh but after Hope was sent off it was always going to happen especially as was he was on a yellow. Im not looking forward to the Waterford game, two defenders down and Kelly suspended too. Hopefully Byrne will be back. Oh the thought of the two Cronins playing, one is as bad as the other.

[Martinho II]

So much for Cousins saying he's going to sort out our defensive problems. We were all over the place, again.. How many goals have we gifted the opposition this season? Thought Deans sending off was a bit harsh but after Hope was sent off it was always going to happen especially as was he was on a yellow. Im not looking forward to the Waterford game, two defenders down and Kelly suspended too. Hopefully Byrne will be back. Oh the thought of the two Cronins playing, one is as bad as the other.

is simon kelly not due to come back now he has served his three match suspension?

[De Town]

Oh the thought of the two Cronins playing, one is as bad as the other.
They're both a disaster alright, although Gary is a bit worse than Kevin imo. Kevin's a centre back too, not a left back I think.

is simon kelly not due to come back now he has served his three match suspension?
I think Kelly still has 1 game left on his suspension. :(

[The Insider]

Yeah think I read somewhere that Kelly wasnt back until the Wexford game. Yea Kevin has played better a centre half, Cousins could move him in alongside Byrne Sat (if he's fit), Tyrell's also there too. Thought Kevin was very poor Sat.

[Martinho II]

Yeah think I read somewhere that Kelly wasnt back until the Wexford game. Yea Kevin has played better a centre half, Cousins could move him in alongside Byrne Sat (if he's fit), Tyrell's also there too. Thought Kevin was very poor Sat.

i was talkin to our PRO last nite and he confirmed to me that Kelly wont be playing for this saturday.. Kevin Cronin was shocking bad it was horrible defending for the penalty that was saved by conlon.. Wonder will conlon keep his place ? He actually played all right in goals and had one of his better games for us..

[Longfordian]

Interesting interview with Cousins on extratime.ie apologising to the fans for the performance and basically saying if the players don't improve he'll get rid of them. Not sure how he'd manage to do that since they're under contract, reads like a particularly heat of the moment post match interview. It'll be interesting to see if it has any affect, be it positive or negative.

[The Insider]

Just after reading the interview, strong words from Cousins. Im sure he let the players know how he felt about the shambolic display. It'll be interesting to see what kind of a response there'll be Saturday night.