Athlone without Hughes for visit of Wexford
ATHLONE Town will be without the suspended Mark Hughes for tonight’s important Airtricity League First Division clash against Wexford Youths at Lissywollen (kick-off: 7.45pm).
Hughes, who has played in every league game since signing in pre-season, will be unavailable after reaching four yellow cards. On the plus side, both Niall Lanigan and Conor McMahon are expected to feature, after recovering from illnesses to play in the 3-1 Leinster Senior Cup defeat at Shelbourne last Tuesday evening.
However, striker Noel McGee did not feature in the game (or against Mervue), despite having been introduced as a late substitute in the recent defeat at Longford Town, and whether or not he features tonight remains to be seen, with manager Roddy Collins having expressed concerns about McGee’s fitness earlier in the week. Joey Mulcahy will be unavailable to Wexford manager Shane Keegan through suspension.
Wexford are currently level on points with Athlone (on ten points from eight games) but a victory for either side could potentially put them in the top-three after this weekend’s round of fixtures.
Athlone defeated Wexford earlier in the season, winning 2-0 at Ferrycarrig Park courtesy of a Ryan Coombes brace. Coombes was also on-target in the defeat at Shelbourne on Tuesday (when he played in a forward role), but is likely to revert to the right wing this evening, as regular forwards Garbhan Coughlan and Philip Gorman return to the fray.
Athlone made a total of ten changes to the team for the defeat against Shelbourne, with Collins using the minor competition to look at several of his relatively untried charges, including David Brookes, Warren Conroy, Tzee Mustapha and Roy King. Athlone managed to level the game through Coombes’ 20th minute strike after Sean Brennan had given Shels’ the lead two minutes earlier. Athlone had held their own well in the opening period but Shelbourne were the stronger side after the break and netted twice more through Ian Ryan and Brennan.
Athlone’s primary focus however, is on getting points on the board in the league and three points this weekend, after a last gasp draw against Mervue Utd, would be a significant boost to Roddy Collins’ outfit. See next week’s Westmeath Independent for match report and reaction from the Athlone v Wexford Youths match.