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Athlone Town AFC -v- Wexford Youths FC
- Alan Smith
- Fri, Apr 03 2009
Wexford Youths will look to make it a quick-fire double when they travel to the midlands to take on Athlone Town at Lissywollen on Saturday night (kick-off 8pm). Mick Wallace's men picked up their first win of the season last weekend with a 2-1 victory over Longford Town, but high-flying Athlone lost their unbeaten record against Waterford United.
First defeat
Athlone have had a good start to the campaign, winning their first two games, against Mervue United and Kildare County, and drawing at Limerick. However, the concession of a late goal against Waterford last Sunday put an end to their unbeaten run as the County Westmeath side let a 1-0 lead slip in the final 15 minutes. Despite that, though, they still lie in fourth place before Series 5 begins, just five points off the pace. That's in serious contrast to Wexford Youths, who lost their first three games, to Shelbourne, Waterford United and Sporting Fingal, before grinding out a win at home to Longford last Friday.
Wallace 'aware'
Wallace and his charges will travel from the south-east knowing that any result will be a good one against an Athlone side rejuvenated since Brendan Place took charge during the winter. “This is a really tough away fixture for us," Wallace said, "but we're confident after last week's result. Athlone were unlucky last weekend losing to Waterford when they conceded a late winner. A single point would have had them in the top three of the league so we're aware of the task ahead."
Advantage Athlone
The sides have met on eight occasions in the past two years and the home side have fared the better, winning half of the encounters. Wexford have won on two occasions while the spoils have been shared twice. However, Wexford have only scored two goals in Athlone in four visits to the midlands. Athlone are 11/10 favourites to continue their good record against the Youths, with the draw available at 11/5 and an away win 21/10. Phil Caschera will, incidentally, be the man in the middle.
Selection headaches
Wexford are depleted for the trip as they are without the services of injured quartet, Paul Murphy, Lee Aust, Danny Furlong and Gary Sheehan. There are also doubts over the fitness of Johnny Flynn O’Connor, but the duo of Peter White and Paul Rossiter will return to the squad. Noel McGee is the only absentee for Athlone, as he serves an automatic one-match suspension, but he will be a big miss for Place and his team. McGee has scored three of Athlone’s five goals so far, with Emeka Unwubiko chipping in with the other two. Des Hope will return to the squad, though, after he sat out the Waterford game due to a ban after an accumulation of yellow cards from last season.
extratime.ie prediction: It will be interesting to see how quickly the home side bounce back after last weekend’s soul destroying defeat, but they should get a result against a Wexford Youths side who have struggled so far this season despite such a tough start. A close game but Athlone should edge it. 2-1.
About Alan Smith
Alan Smith works as a sub-editor for the Guardian newspaper in London. Originally from Cork, he freelances for several other newspapers and websites. Follow him on twitter @alansmith90.