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www.westmeathindependent.ie
Athlone Town recorded their first double of the season when they produced one of their best displays of the campaign to beat Dundalk at St. Mel's Park on Friday night. Earlier in the season, the Town thumped Dundalk at Oriel Park. And they proved it was no fluke with this deserved victory which ended their worst sequence of defeats under Jimmy Greene. The balance of the side looked better, especially at the back and they recorded their first clean sheet in eight games. Unfortunately, the three points are not enough to lift Athlone out of the dreaded bottom two. But they have every chance now of hiking themselves free of the re-election zone and another good result this weekend will give them every hope of reaching mid-table safety.
Their run of four straight defeats has now been discarded to the rubbish bin as they hope to build on this good display that warmed the hearts of their fans on a freezing cold night. Jan Fitzell was playing his last game for the club before moving to Australia and he saved his best performance of the season for the occasion. Adrian Carberry was back at left back with Eric Molloy ahead of him on the left wing. Damien Rushe and Michael Hamey dropped to the bench as Michael Collins was shifted into midfield to partner Stephen Kelly.
Gary Devine came in for the injured Stephen Mullan whose recent form was rewarded at h alf time when he received the Supporters Player of the Month award. Des Hope continued at the back with Ronan Frawley and they forged an impressive partnership, dealing with the very experienced striking duo of Gary Haylock and Martin Reilly. Kick off was delayed by five minutes due to a difficulty with the net but five minutes into the action, Frawley had to react quickly to clear a vicious cross from the left by David Ward who started the game in quick and menacing fashion. Two minutes later, Fitzell broke up a Dundalk attack and fed Collins. The impressive midfielder switched the play to Molloy whose floating cross was headed goal-wards by Warren Parkes. But it was too close to the keeper who gathered comfortably. Devine neatly laid the ball into Kelly's path on 20 minutes and his superb drive was somehow finger tipped around the post by the diving figure of John Connolly. From the comer kick, Frawley's header drifted narrowly wide and 80 seconds later, the same player looped a header over the top after Molloy delivered a good free kick. The closest Dundalk got to scoring in the first half was when Sean Watters burst forward from his right back role and drilled a 25 yard shot inches wide. Dundalk looked out of approach while Athlone continued to battle hard and create the better chances. Parkes whizzed past a static Paul Curran on 40 minutes and his cross almost landed at the feet of Molloy who tried valiantly to connect but just missed out at the back post. Just after the break, Frawley seemed certain to score after Kelly's free kick set him up. But from six yards he nodded the ball up and over the bar.
POSITIVE
Athlone's approach to the second half was very positive and they deservedly took the lead after 52 minutes. The manner of the goal was bizarre though as Enda Kenny's ballooning cross caught Connolly unaware and somehow sailed into the roof of the net. Jimmy Greene will not give a damn how it went in because their season has been dogged with bad luck. Fifteen minutes later, Dundalk were reduced to ten men when Robbie Brunton was sent off for his second bookable offence after a high tackle on Kenny. You sensed it was definitely Athlone's night. Haylock tried to lift the visitors when his 25 yard shot flew wide and with ten minutes left, the crowd was mystified at how Dundalk did not equalise. Firstly, Andrew Duffy's volley beat David Moran but crashed off the bar and down onto the goal line. A scramble ensued and Fitzell was forced to hack good fortune for Athlone.
And two minutes later, Athlone killed the game..Gollins slid the ball into the path of substitute Alan Clarke and he shuffled his feet before flicking the ball past Connolly and into the goal. Clarke has been a peripheral figure for the last couple of seasons but his impact on Friday was impressive and he could be rewarded for his display by starting against Cobh Ramblers on Saturday night. This was a vital win for Athlone and perhaps their most organised and convincing showing of the season. Despite a poor month, the players deserve praise for picking themselves up and producing the goods. Now they must show that it was not a one-off.
I am very ****ed at dundalk. It makes want to support any other team......Rock Celtic are doing well i think i will support them.
Well done lads heard you played well. :( :( :( :mad: :mad:
Some stats again
Two new players to add to the scorers list, Kenny & Clarke.
Ended four game losing streak.
First win since beating Dublin City 2-1 on November 11th.
First time we won and kept a clean sheet.
First clean sheet since 20/10/02 against Limerick.
Maximum six points taken against Dundalk this season. The Under-21s also took maximum six points against Dundalk this season.
Yeah it was good to get the win. We seem to be Dundalk's bogey team this year, for some reason. It has to be said that the standard of football was poor though, from both teams.
Jan obviously wanted to go out on a good note and he played his heart out, especially in the first half which was one of the best performances I've seen him produce for the Town. Our defence looked slightly better - Des Hope is a good addition - but what's the story with Conor Frawley? He's been out for ages and I think getting him back in the team is important, especially with now Jan leaving. We need an experienced head, besides Cabsy, at the back.
Also, while I'm at it, where did our new singing support suddenly come from? It seems a bit weird that they've popped up now, given that we never had any real vocal support even during the near-promotion season two years ago. I'm definitely not complaining though, they added a lot to the game last night. Finally, I was delighted for Clarke getting his goal, he definitely repaid the 'St Mels choir' with that one...
Peace,
Ade
Conor is gone for the rest of the season with an ankle injury Ade.
The singing support has being taking off sice the visit of Harps this season. The best week was probably when Waterford were here, everytime they started to get a chant going it was drowned out with De Athlone clap clap clap :) One question though, why did Haylock get such a hard time from them last night? Theres only one thing that I can think of, and I hope it ain't that.
What did ye think of Kenny's goal? I thought he meant it, saw some Dundalk fella saying no way was it an attempt at goal.
It's great to see and hear all the youngsters sing, I think they are from the local schools.
Without trying to sound like a prude however, they would be well advised to leave out the Haylock type chants we heard last night, it takes away from their efforts in what should be good humoured banter.
Don't know why Haylock was given such a hard time. Maybe it's just because he's the most well-known player on the Dundalk team and so is an easy target? Aside from that I can't think of any other reason.
As for Kenny's goal, I have to say that from where I was standing it looked like a cross, but whether he indended it or not it did look great sailing over the keeper's head and into the back of the net...
Go on the Town.
Peace,
Ade
We are good, and we are the best supports in Ireland, we got every one down one friday night a few weeks ago and now every one comes down all the time,
We like to see our team win, we are good when we want to be,not the supports i am taking about the team !!!
They are very young players and they need time. People talk about them when there winning and when they are not doing so good people give out about them,
LOOK PEOPLE GIVE THEM TIME, COME DOWN TO THE GAMES. WHAT IS A HOUR AND A HALF OUT OF A FRIDAY NIGHT IT's NOTTING !!!!!!
IF YOU DONT LIKE THE TOWN OR IT'S TEAM THEN WHY ARE YOU LIVEING IN IT ?????
Thank You,
The best supports in Ireland
Come on The Town.
And from all the supports thanks for every thing JAN.
:o :eek: :o :eek:
TOP THREE TEAMS
FAI 2001
P W D L F A DIF. PTS
21 12 7 2 37 20 +17 43 ATHLONE TOWN
20 11 6 3 45 18 +24 39 DUNDALK
21 11 4 6 37 30 +7 37 MONAGHAN
WHERE DID THEM DAYS GO TO, AND DONT SAY IT WENT OUT THE DOOR WITH BUCKLEY :confused: ,
BRING BACK ANDY MYLER FROM WHAT I HEAR MYLER IS DOING GO COME BACK MYLER COME BACK, AND STUART CONNOLLY HIS NOT EVEN PLAYING FOOTBALL THIS YEAR ??????????????????????????????
.................................................. ...
FROM THE SINGING SUPPORTERS
:eek: :o :eek: