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Longford Town -v- Athlone Town
- Deniese O'Flaherty
- Sat, Apr 02 2011
The first El Classico of the new league season is not about Longford Town or Athlone Town but instead new Longford Town signing Keith Gillespie.
The former Northern Ireland International is expected to make his Town debut on Saturday night and a large crowd is expected at Flancare Park (kick-off 7.30).
The visitors go into this game unbeaten in the league; picking up three draws in their three games against Waterford Utd, Salthill Devon and Cork City. That result against Cork last weekend will give them confidence going into this game against their local rivals.
Longford suffered their second league defeat of the season last Friday night when they lost 1-0 away in Limerick. On Monday night they lost out to UCD in the first round of the EA Sports Cup in dramatic fashion; the Students claimed the winner deep into injury-time, though the goal was clearly offside.
Longford players felt aggrieved after that game and will be hoping to bounce back from those two defeats with a win against Athlone. They have already beaten Mike Kerley’s side this season; in the preliminary round of the EA Sports Cup.
For the home side goalkeeper Alvin Rouse is a doubt for this game having limped off during Monday night’s defeat. Youngster Paul Hunt who came on to replace him could make his league debut. Graham Dowling is out with a knee injury. Austin Skelly will make his first league start for Longford against his former club while Gillespie will play some part in the game; whether he’ll start or not is the big question.
For Athlone Town they have Kevin Williamson suspended while Bobby Tier (thigh), Gary Higgins (hamstring) and Jamie Carr are injured and will more than likely miss the game.
Longford midfielder Mark Salmon, a former Athlone player, is looking forward to the midlands derby. “I’m looking forward to it, especially as it’s a derby game, there is always that little extra bit. After beating them in the EA Sports Cup they are going to want to do well. They got a good result last week and it’ll be a tough game for us,” he told ExtraTime.ie.
Longford Town
Injured: Graham Dowling (knee)
Doubtful: Alvin Rouse
Suspended: None
Athlone Town
Injured: Bobby Tier, Gary Higgins, Jamie Carr
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Kevin Williamson.
PaddyPower.com match odds: Longford Town: 7/10 Draw: 12/5 Athlone Town: 7/2
extratime.ie prediction: Athlone will be hard to break down but Longford should claim the three points.
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