rovers vs athlone

[Ciarán Keaveney]

how do ye think the game is going to go. how many of ye are going to the game.

[Ash]

I reckon we'll upset the apple cart and nick a 1-0 win.
Mickey O'Conner with a last minute free kick :p

Nah, Tom Silke to put the ball in the oppositions net for a change ;)

[atfconline]

I'd stick with Mickey Ash, Flood is suspended! ;)

[The Stars]

i like your optimism and you may be right.
we always draw in Athlone so i will be delighted with a win.
Alverez to score and dedicate it to Banger.

[Redtop]

i think we might sneak a 2-1 win flannery and o grady ;)

[rockstar]

4-1 to us,Athlone not up to much of late, new manager looking foward to next year.has inherited a team belonging to a previous manager according to himself in a recent interview ,so i think we will win by at least three. ;)

[Mayo Red]

I'll go for 2-1 Rovers, McTiernan and Flannery scoring!

[Ciarán Keaveney]

i think it will be 2-0.mct with the 2 of them. i would go but there is no bus going.

[fcporter]

1-0 to us. Mickey Mac with a header

[redrov2005]

From Athlone website-www.athlonetownfc.com
====================================

ATHLONE TOWN welcome table toppers Sligo Rovers to Golden Island Park this Friday night in week 26 of the eircom League First Division.

Sligo currently lead the First Division by six points from Dublin City. Cobh Ramblers, after a 1 - 0 win over City last weekend are now only two points further behind in third spot and very much in the hunt for at least the play-off place.

athlonetownfc.com caught up with Town boss John Gill, and got his thought ahead of the game.

"I'm really looking forward to the game. Sligo are going great at the minute, so they should bring a good crowd with them. There should be a good atmosphere on the night. Our home form hasn't been too bad performance wise, but we're going to need to top everything we've done so far to get a result. Obviously they are six points clear. They are playing with a swagger at the minute after beating Pat's in the Cup. So it's a huge game for us. These are the sorts of games I certainly loving playing, and I know the players look forward to them too."

Gill still had some harsh words following on from last weekend's 4 - 0 loss to Kilkenny City. "I know if we play to our potential and we stick to our gameplan we can take points off people. But it's one thing saying that, it's another to get the players to do it. I've told the players, let them know how I feel about last Saturday's performance because I think they are being treated very professionally. I think that they have been given everything that they require and all they are asked to do is go out and perform to the best of their ability and I just feel some of them let themselves, and the Club, down last Saturday."

Definitely missing for Athlone will be Anthony Flood and Des Hope who each serve a one-match suspension. Striker Austin Skelly is unlikely to be in contention to replace Flood, as he still strives to gain match fitness. Eric Molloy is also not quiet ready to resume playing duties, but midfielder Fiachra McArdle should make a return after he was forced to leave the field early in the recent 2 - 0 over Galway United, something the manager is pleased about. "We have missed Fiachra I feel, he has been a good signing for the Club. He gives us a bit of energy and technique which we don't have at the moment. There will be one or two other changes as well. After last week, there has to be," he concluded.

Venue: Golden Island Park, Athlone
Kick-Off: 7:45PM
Referee: Tom Connolly [Dublin]

[redrov2005]

I'll go for 2-0 to Rovers with McT scoring and Paul Brown to get the second after coming on as a sub.

[Ciarán Keaveney]

wats tom connolly like as a ref.

[skimcgee]

Anyone know the best way to get to the ground coming from the Moate side?

[Ash]

2 fairly handy if coming through Moate :

1)
- Head straight out the dual carraigway - 2nd exit on the Kilmartains/N4
roundabout
- Keep on motoring and take the 2nd slip road off the dualer. Should be signposted Town Centre
- Take a left, and straight through the roundabout at the Athlone RSC
- Go straight past Pairc Ciarian GAA pitch
- Under a little bridge
- Take a left when you get to the next roundabout.
- Straight on and take a left in St Mels Terrace.
- Under bridge to your left and the Stadium Of Tin is on your right

2)
- go straight through the roundabout at Kilmartins
- straight through the next roundabout - past Smyths and all that
- straight through the next roundabout - at Athlone IT
- straight on and straight through the next roundabout
- at the junction take the far right
- next left will bring you straight through St Mels Terrace
- Go under bridge to your right and the Stadium Of Tin is on your right


E&OA ;)

[skimcgee]

Nice one, cheers ash

[Rory H]

2-1 athlone....something tells me it will be kilkenny all over again

hope im wrong though

[Da Real Rover]

2-0 to rovers with MC T getting at least 1.

[Bravo]

0-3 McT x 2 & Flannery with the other, Athlone are **** Poor, nothing to motivate them Only Danny O'Leary. We'll be there? :)

[Mayo Red]

Bit of a nothing match lastnight, neither team seemed to have many ideas in the end. We should be beating the bottom team in the league though, although Athlone gave as good as they got and I thought Rafs backheader at the end was going in the top corner judging by O'Haras reactions, scary moment!

Still, another point and the Dubs didn't make up any ground on us either. It's a good job Athlone are building a new ground and I wish them the best of luck with it because a good fart would knock St Mels/Golden Island Park at the minute!

[d rovers]

poor game last night. i thought athlone had a couple of great chances, & if they had a decent centre forward they could have nicked the points. i thought a draw was about a fair result. with dublin city dropping points again, we got lucky. the game against kilkenny is going to be a big one. they are on top form & it will be a big test for us. if we could stop their momentum then automatic promotion should be sorted. dublin city are going backwards & i wouldn't be worried about the rest of them.

[Rovers1]

rovers were poor last night,any team could have won it,both teams had good chances,mct and flannery were asleep in first half. big mistake putting rossiter on the wing,waste of space!!!

[Redtop]

big mistake putting rossiter on the wing,waste of space!!!
big mistake signing him in the first place!!!

[Redtop]

It's a good job Athlone are building a new ground and I wish them the best of luck with it because a good fart would knock St Mels/Golden Island Park at the minute!
i know well did ye look at the pictures on the match report the state of the dugouts :D

[showgies]

Rovers were poor in Athlone. Play like that vs Kilkenny and we will be in trouble. I can’t remember any of our wingers(!) getting to the by-line or behind the full backs. All the balls up to Flannery and McT came from deep, and the Athlone defenders dealt with that threat comfortably.

Another thing I noticed is our ploy in using 2 players to take a corner. This I assume is as an attempt to drag 2 defenders out of the box. However, on some occasions on Friday evening, Athlone only put one defender out to defend the corner and on no occasion did McCann or Faz cop-on and realise that a short corner would have left them 2 v 1 with a great chance to put a different sort of cross into the box.

[Red4Eva]

pretty dire gam alrite. neither team deserved to win. i've been to st.mel's bout 6 times in last 5 years&every game has been awful apart from the 2-2 in 01/02. i was surprised that sc didn't swap faz&raf or raf&rossi at some stage but i think he was reasonably happy with a point&clean sheet from listening to him on ocean on saturday morning.

[Heinze]

Flannery had his Cheek Bone broken in this game and has some nerve damage and will be out for about 6 weeks, not good at this stage of the season. Hopefully he can make a quick recovery.

[Red4Eva]

Flannery had his Cheek Bone broken in this game and has some nerve damage and will be out for about 6 weeks, not good at this stage of the season. Hopefully he can make a quick recovery.

****t. seen flannery in centra in roscommon on friday nite he didn't look too bad but obviously not. browne better start paying back quick. i'd say he'll do alrite after a cupla games&we'll prob be pretty glad we signed him

[Heinze]

Well it looks pretty nasty now, takes a while for the discolouring to come up! He's off to Dublin today for an Operation on it afaik.