ATHLONE TOWN – 2
UCD AFC – 1
Andrew Cowan at the UCD Bowl.
It was another disappointing night at the UCD Bowl for UCD AFC as they suffered their third defeat in a row. Falling victim this time to first division league leaders Athlone Town. The visitors came away with the three points following a last gasp goal to secure victory on a 2-1 scoreline.
Conor Cannon had come close on a number of occasions in the first half prior to opening up the scoring for the students. He went to tee up Gary O’Neill after nine minutes only for the goal-bound strike to be stopped by Shane Cusack in the Athlone Town goal. Cannon boasted the remainder of the meaningful chances for UCD in the first halfhis header after 17 minutes made its way into the hands of Shane Cusack. His free kick a few minutes later only found the Athlone wall with the rebound coming off the crossbar.
Conor Cannon finally opened up the scoring for the students five minutes before half time with the students taking the momentum with them into the second half. The evening started to go down hill for the home side when Sean Coyne fouled Marco Chindera and saw the red card raised by the referee Paula Brady. Athlone Town began to find their own form and began to pressure the now ten men UCD.
The pressure finally began to pay off late in the second half for Athlone Town. Philip Gorman found the back of the net on 82mins. Both teams looked certain to share of the points right up until Philip Gorman again found the back of the net in the second minute of stoppage time. As the final whistle blew it was beyond doubt that Athlone had been rewarded for a display of dogged determination.
In a game that was filled with good solid UCD play, they would be forgiven to feel hard done coming away from the fixture with nothing however Athlone Town must be credited for the way in which they took full advantage of ten men UCD and pressed on to the very end to secure all three points on the night.
Disappointingly for the home side, this is UCD’s third loss in a row in all competitions. A damning statistic which leaves the students with only three points from as many games in the Airtricity first division. Collie O’Neill’s men go to Wexford Youths on the 27th of Friday eager to end their undefeated spell.
