Finn Harps -v- Athlone Town

• Aidan O'Donnell
• Fri, Oct 01 2010


FINN Harps welcome fellow First Division strugglers Athlone Town to Ballybofey tonight, looking to pick up a first win in six outings (kick-off 8pm).

Harps’ last league win came back in August when they stuttered their way to a 3-2 win over rock-bottom side Salthill Devon at Finn Park.

Since then, James Gallagher’s side have been knocked out of the FAI Cup at the hands of Sligo Rovers; lost on the road to Monaghan United and Shelbourne; and picked up home draws against Limerick and most recently Wexford Youths last Friday night.

The 1-1 draw with Wexford last week just about typified a frustrating season for Finn Harps, who threw away a one-goal lead and then saw captain Packie Mailey receive his marching orders, as Gallagher’s side had to hang on for a point in a game they had bossed.

“I didn’t feel an awful lot went wrong,” reflected Harps manager James Gallagher. “At times in the first half we maybe weren’t as fluent but we still created three or four really good chances; and it’s pretty much the same in the second half. It’s just unfortunate that three of our most consistent performers – Mattie (Crossan), Gavin (Cullen) and Packie (Mailey) – have all made mistakes and it’s ended up costing us two points that we really shouldn’t have dropped.”

The manager indicated after the game last week that they might look to experiment in both the way they play and the personnel with whom they go with between now and the end of the season.

Gallagher, however, insisted while he would like his side to adopt a more free-flowing, attacking style of football, he is adamant that points on the board remains of paramount importance.

He said: “We haven’t been scoring a lot this season so we have looked at different ways of changing it up. What we did last week was we went with Stephen (McLaughlin) and Marc (Brolly) either side of Kevin (McHugh) as a three-man attack.

“The two lads have the potential to be very dangerous in these positions. They have the power and pace to cause a lot of trouble. They can interlink with Kevin, who we feel we might get a lot more out of in this way of playing. There will be more room for Kevin to manoeuvre and he has the experience to know where to be and doesn’t rely on a strike-partner as such.

“There is a few other ideas we’d like to try out as well, but having said that, we’re not going to be chopping and changing a great deal either. There is still plenty of points to play for and we need to be looking at getting as many as we can in our remaining games, starting tonight against Athlone.”

Harps face a side this evening who haven’t won an away game since May when they went to Turners Cross and beat Cork 1-0. They have suffered three defeats in their last four matches, though managed a somewhat impressive 2-2 draw against a free-falling Derry City side at the Brandywell three weeks ago.

There has been only one goal scored in the two previous meetings between the midlander’s and Harps this year, courtesy of Kevin McHugh. The sides played out a dull, scoreless draw in the first clash at Finn Park in April.

“I’d imagine this meeting will be a bit more open. They weren’t conceding anything at the start of the season; I think they went seven or eight games without conceding a goal. Unfortunately, for some reason, we’ve found it quite difficult against Athlone in recent times, though last year’s meeting where we won 6-0 was something of an exception.”

Gallagher will be without skipper Packie Mailey for the visit of Brendan Place’s side as the defender serves a suspension for last week’s dismissal, but can welcome back full-back Gary Whoriskey, who missed last week’s game for the same reason.

The Harps boss admitted the club are unsure yet as to whether Mailey will serve more than a one-game ban, as the defender already had an accumulation of yellow cards, while Michael Funston has returned to training.