Match Report: ATAFC 3-0 Wexford FC

Athlone Town Begin Season With A Bang

In what was a damp night in Athlone Town Stadium, Athlone Town turned in a wonderful performance on the season opener. Athlone Town started the brighter of the two teams and had a lot of the possession in the early goings. Aaron Connolly captained ‘The Town’ and the fans were treated to a new look front three. Dean Ebbe retuned to the club and Jamal Ibrahim and Amardo Oakley made debuts.

Athlone created lots of openings in the first half and found themselves in front after 14 minutes when Noah van Geenen coolly side footed home the opener from a corner. It was all Athlone in the opening minutes and Dean Ebbe looked to get onto a long ball over the top and he was fouled just outside the area by Wexford Goalkeeper Owen Mason. He was booked by referee Chris Sheehan. From the resulting freekick Aaron Connolly tested Owen Mason who got down well to stop a great strike but Ibrahim reacted the quickest and was able to slot home from six yards to put Athlone 2-0 up.

Wexford started to grow into the game a bit and Mikie Rowe found himself with time to take the ball on his chest inside the Athlone Box but his shot was well over and didn’t trouble Enda Minogue in the Athlone Goal. Athlone played well with getting quick ball from the back to the front and Dean Ebbe laid off a good ball to Carl Mujaguzi and he found Ibrahim on the left who had lots of space to run into the box and shot low and again Mason got down well to stop the strike only to parry it to Oakley who dispatched it well to put ‘The Town’ 3 goals up.

The second half wasn’t as entertaining as the first but both teams created chances. Athlone will be happy to have kept a clean sheet and get 3 points on the board.

Athlone Town AFC: Enda Minogue, German Fuentes Rodriguez, Jarlath Jones (Shane Forbes 87’), Noah van Geenen, Daniel McKenna, Dylan Hand, Aaron Connolly (C), Dean Ebbe (Divine Izekor 70′), Carl Mujaguzi (Oisin Duffy 87’), Amardo Oakley, Jamal Ibrahim (Brian Torre 68′)

Unused Substitutes: Andrew Stuart Trainor, Dylan Gavin, Gabriel Padilla, Matthew Leal, Gideon Tetteh               

Bookings: Jones (80)

Attendance: 824

www.AthloneTownAFC.ie Man of The Match: Daniel McKenna

Head-To-Head stats after last night’s game:

Meetings: 55 | Athlone Wins: 27 | Draws: 7 | Wexford Wins: 21