El Classico de Midlands

[Cabs88]

A week away but can't wait for this one. Last round of the first series too, and will give us a good idea where we are at. Athlone will be buoyed by beating harps and im sure our friend Roddy will have his team fired up for this one.

With Gillespie suspended, it may be a blessing in disguise. I think O'Neill will slot in beside Sammo, cant see any other changes.

Tactically, I do believe if we sat back and let teams come on to us and counter attack, we might get some joy. Willo and McCarthy will block and clear all day long, but can be caught with pace in behind. On the flip side for us, for the first time in a while we have genuine pace in the team, with Nkolo, Purdy, Shaw and Sullivan. It may be something we could look at. Last night was only our second clean sheet of the season, injuries aside, I do think we can improve on this.

Finally, as always we will be meeting up in Foxs before the game, and I would encourage as many supporters as possible to call in. Its nice to have all the supporters together for a chat before the game! We need a big crowd at the game next week, and all the stops should be pulled out to try and improve the attendance. :ball:

[nigel-harps1954]

Athlone are muck. If ye turn up at all you'll hammer them.

[outspoken]

Agree with Cabs that we were brilliant on the counter against Wexford but I do think that's more of an away day tactic which could backfire horribly at home. What we need to do at home is make the pitch as big as possible, get it down a use the widemen then we can get some good service into Shaw and Sully, with Purdy and Nkolo outwide we should be one of the paciest teams in the league especially if we can get our 2 full backs following suit. With Athlone likely to sit tight and compact this could be the perfect way to break them down. Agree with Cabs also that we need a good atmosphere and can't let a nervous or edgey atmosphere get on top of the players so big efforts both sides of the ground required :)

[Keen2win]

I am so unhappy that I am missing this, and I missed Wexford too.
Going away for the summer too!
I'm really going to have withdrawl symptoms!

[L.T.F.C.]

I am so unhappy that I am missing this, and I missed Wexford too.
Going away for the summer too!
I'm really going to have withdrawl symptoms!
Welcome to my world!

[fitzpatrick10]

cant wait for this one! be interesting to see how much better the mid field does without samo carrying gillespie, great that havo is back aswell,the back four is much stronger with him der rather than deans thus im feelin very confident going into this game, dont think they will be able to handle the pace of sully and etanda (possibly mick if his ankle is ok) and with shaw mcdonagh and mcarty for set pieces, predict a 3-1 town and a peno in der sumwhere

[Town Legend]

I have to say it was great seeing Haverty back even though he was playing with one arm! I heard some other Town fans calling him the 'one armed bandit'!! He fell on it again near the end and had to get some treatment on it, was grimacing in pain as well. Hopefully it won't be too bad for Sat.

[outspoken]

Havo is anywhere near full tilt yet so just wait till himself and Mick are flying at full force it wont be the wingers teams will be worrying about but our full backs!

[outspoken]

For anyone who didnt see or hear it yet Roddy's back to his old tricks - http://www.shannonside.ie/sport/collins-confident-ahead-of-midlands-derby/

[Bosco]

Ha he's a gas man Roddy,I'm sure all the players and management know him too well at this stage for his "mind games" to work, he's so precictable!

Must say I cannot wait for the game now!

[Martinho II]

hopefully the good people of Longford will get off their holes and go to the game. Its being a while since there was a crowd at CCS stadium.

[outspoken]

hopefully the good people of Longford will get off their holes and go to the game. Its being a while since there was a crowd at CCS stadium.

Hearing a large Athlone contingent are travelling, 2 supporters buses plus all those who will drive, looking at 60+

[nigel-harps1954]

Hearing a large Athlone contingent are travelling, 2 supporters buses plus all those who will drive, looking at 60+

You'd have to say that's a fairly poor travelling support given the local rivalry. You'd expect 150+ at minimum.

[Acornvilla]

They usually have less!

[Martinho II]

They usually have less!

a few of their smart alexs are looking at taking over section o!:( let them talk on facebook its our baby!:p

[Bosco]

http://ltfc.ie/index.php/fanzone/section-o-2/section-o-says-hello/

New Section O notes up on the site this morning for the match programme tomorrow!We hope to have notes up for every home game so if anyone has anything to contribute let us know!Cheers to Pauro for putting them up on the site so quickly!

[Martinho II]

very witty read paddy was it you that wrote that? loved references to korea!!:p

[Bosco]

Ha the author's name will not be disclosed!

Although I have been watching a lot of documentaries on North Korea lately...

[outspoken]

Love the notes lads fair play.

[Town Legend]

Second home game in a row ET has no preview for us, starting to think they don't like us!! Anyways looking forward to the game, hopefully it'll stay dry and it'll be an entertaining game.

[L.T.F.C.]

Poor performance from us there. Decent defending, but offered nothing further up. Nkololo was particularly bad. Quinn wasn't a whole pile better. Although Athlone offered nothing at all, we were lucky.

[Longfordian]

Too much hoofing but we were the better side. O'Sullivan was our best bet going forward, always tried to use the ball well even if he couldn't get in behind himself. Defence was solid. It's always brilliant to win against them. Decent enough crowd too.

[L.T.F.C.]

That image hurts my eyes.

[Town Legend]

Have to say Section O's song for Roddy was funny, but only remember a few lines. Anyone from Section O out there put the lyrics up for me please as I can't get the tune out of my head!! :D

[fitzpatrick10]

o roddy is a w@nker
he wears a w@nkers hat
He tried to come to longford
but we werent having that
he went to mon united and ran them to the ground
And by the end of this year hell have fu*ked up athlone town

[Keen2win]

That image hurts my eyes.

4.30am, off his rocker at the time I'd imagine!

[Martinho II]

In hindsight we deserved to win it but we did make it hard on ourselves. Athlone goalie was great for them he made some miraculous saves on a few occasions. Fair play to Quinner just before we scored first he turned to section o waving his hands encouraging us to be more vocal in our support which worked! what he did reminds me of the great Vinny Perth years ago! Tomo Crawley was also very good at that sort of thing too..

Sullies goal I thought looked offside to me and Havos goal was from an unenforced Athlone error. Last night imo was the best ever atmosphere at a EL CLASSICO ever in ten years goin to games home and away! It beat the 04 game in the FAI Cup when there was a bigger crowd.
I thought the atmosphere from both sets of fans was superb. Athlone fans were well behaved. It was the best atmosphere in Section O imo since the Derry City game in 07. I also wish to complement Cabs and Paddy on their super work in getting the increase in numbers in Section O and coming up with a few new dittys that are popular in the charts on our humblest terraces! The hard work in both home and away games with our vocal support is increasing with every game and I would like to congratulate the lads on their hard work! The players are noticing this as well. But also well done to Section O in general for getting behind the team in good times and in bad as it does work eg Cobh. keep up the good work! I am a bit emotional today and slightly hungover hence the lengthy post which is unusual for me!

[outspoken]

Poor game but what a way to beat your rivals. Athlone were the better team but didn't force Bennion into any top class whereas Skinner had to make 2 or 3 big ones.

Mark Salmon got my vote for motm and ET gave it to him too he was superb really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and lifted the crowd a true captains performance... ..Everyone who has said Gillespie is holding him back was proven right last night. No coincidence he also scored 2 versus kevins when he was the main man in midfield.

Bennion is very steady in the air although I would like to se him distribute the ball a lot quicker.

Back 4 were solid and Willie tyrell was superb.

David O'Neill did well despite recent criticism I think with games he'll grow. Nkolo was awful and will be dropped for Purdy next time out while Quinn had a really mixed night more bad than good.

Really impressed with Gavin Doyles contributions from the bench.this season he keeps the ball very very well and perhaps he could take a starting central midfield role in future.

Shaw , Sully and Josh were brilliant also.

Agree with Marty its the best atmaophere I've ever seen at a clasico and everyone is praising how well section O looks wth the banners and flags. Everyone around the club including the players is saying how good the support has been both sides of the ground.d this season and hopefully we can keep that going for next week and beyond.

[Longfordian]

I wouldn't have said Athlone were the better side. It was close but I thought we were slightly the better side. Particularly second half. Athlone are definitely an improved side though.

[L.T.F.C.]

Sullivan's goal was definitely onside, he timed his run perfectly.

And Athlone weren't the better team for two minutes.

[Macy]

No way were Athlone the better side. It was even enough, but we were enough on top I would've been pretty disappointed with a draw when it looked like it was heading that way. Nothing wrong with O'Sullivans goal either.

I thought Nkololo was alright, particularly first half. A lot of the time he didn't have too many options but run at the defence, and I personally think it's great to see a player willing to do so. Not saying I wouldn't mix it up between him and Purdy, but pretty harsh to say he was rubbish. TC has taken a fair bit of stick, particularly last season, but he's pulled out a real gem in O'Sullivan.

Great performance from section O - really great to see and hopefully it continues. Brilliant to see. (One (very minor) criticism - don't put the flag between Section O and N next time, please! Kinda seperated those of us in semi retirement on the periphery).

[outspoken]

Athlone got it down and actually played a bit of football we are just very lucky that most sides we're playing are very inexperienced and that we have the great squad we do have, if we dont win the league itl be a failure IMO. The standard of the league is just so so poor.

[Longfordian]

It's the First Division, of course most of the squads are going to be inexperienced and/or poor. That's why they're cheap. I don't think the standard overall is any worse than most other years. The year with Derry, Cork and Shels all in it would be an exceptional year. Not sure it's luck that we probably have a stronger squad than the rest of them either. TC has worked hard over the past few seasons to get hard to get that squad together on a tight enough budget.

[Macy]

Athlone got it down and actually played a bit of football we are just very lucky that most sides we're playing are very inexperienced and that we have the great squad we do have, if we dont win the league itl be a failure IMO. The standard of the league is just so so poor.
At least we haven't lost the negativity this season. That's a bit of continuity at least.


Not sure it's luck that we probably have a stronger squad than the rest of them either. TC has worked hard over the past few seasons to get hard to get that squad together on a tight enough budget.
Just coming back to this, as outspoken annoyed me. Whatever happens over the season, you have to credit the manager if he's got us a stronger squad than other teams. Unless TC has already written off - if we don't go up his fault, if we do he's lucky? Total BS.

[Martinho II]

thats a fair point macy about the elder statesmen of section o being separated from the rest. The flag can easily go on the other side of the lads. We want everyone together!

[Bosco]

A lot of people commented that our performance wasn't all that great but I disagree. For anyone who's been at most of our games this season we havn't been playing great in general! Thought the performance against Athlone was decent enough, there was a few times during the game were it was all attack from us with Athlone not getting a look in, if it wasn't for some great saves from their keeper we would have been ahead earlier. As has been said I thought our defence was very solid, thought Bennion played well, there was a number of times where he did very well to hold onto the ball from crosses! Thought Shaw looked very sharp up front and theres nothing I can say about O'Sullivan that hasnt already been said, theres such a buzz around the ground every time he gets the ball!

As Marty said it was the best atmosphere in Section O since the Derry game in 07, thats always a game I compare atmosphere to as well!Hopefully we continue to get big crowds over there!The new flags are on the way from Poland at the moment so hopefully we'll have them for next week!

p.s Macy in terms of the flag on Section N, that was actually put their on purpose to stop people from spreading out! We went out early with the flags and tried to put them around Section O to box everyone in because at the Waterford game everyone kind of just stood along the wall away from each other and the atmosphere was desperate!I understand what you mean though, there was a bigger crowd out there on Saturday then we expected to it was a bit of a tight squeeze in and around Section O..

[Macy]

p.s Macy in terms of the flag on Section N, that was actually put their on purpose to stop people from spreading out! We went out early with the flags and tried to put them around Section O to box everyone in because at the Waterford game everyone kind of just stood along the wall away from each other and the atmosphere was desperate!I understand what you mean though, there was a bigger crowd out there on Saturday then we expected to it was a bit of a tight squeeze in and around Section O..
Fair enough - and it did work from that point of view. Just a row or two down and we'd have been able to mingle in from that side is all. :) Wasn't sure whether to raise it even, as I don't want to take away from a great performance by ye.

[outspoken]

At least we haven't lost the negativity this season. That's a bit of continuity at least.


Just coming back to this, as outspoken annoyed me. Whatever happens over the season, you have to credit the manager if he's got us a stronger squad than other teams. Unless TC has already written off - if we don't go up his fault, if we do he's lucky? Total BS.

Of course TC deserves credit for the squad hes put together, in fact I would argue that's his strongest point as a manager he builds a very good squad and even better he does it on a tight budget but you cant say his football is the most attractive in the world, as long as we go up I couldnt give a sh1te about style of play I just think if we dont get it down more often and make the pitch as big as trouble then better footballing sides will beat us. Mervue would have done had their strikers been on form and had Athlone had a few more wise heads we mighnt have won wither, thats all I'm trying to get across.