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eircom National League First Division

Date	10/10/2001
Score (Blues First)	0 - 0
Venue	RSC, Waterford
Kick Off	7.30 PM
Attendance	400
Weather	Cool and dry
Referee	D. Hancock
Goal Scorers	None
Cards	Yellow: Moore, Whittle D, Fitzgerald W, Breen
Pitch	Good surface

A scoreless draw in Buckley Park and defeat in Whitehall saw some doom and gloom over the RSC as Athlone Town came to the Southeast with the Blues hungry for three points to get their season back on track.

A home debut for Trevor Berry and a strating place for Brendan Rea saw PP ring the changes as Kevin O'Brien and Kevin Whittle were relegated to the sideline. The home crowd had very little to cheer about in the opening exchanges as Athlone dominated the play and were creating chances at will as the Blues were unable to get hold of the ball. The only cheer early on was for the first ever ballgirls in the RSC as the Villagirls turned out in their green and white jerseys to add a little glamour to the match. Athlone should have captalised on their early pressure when David Whittle handed the ball in the box, but Andy Myler blasted the ball wide from the resulting penalty kick. It was Myler again whos header hit the up right with Binder beaten which should have put the visitors one up. At this stage the match was being played in the Blues half with very little relief for the home defence. With 29 minutes gaone Eric Bradley was withdrawn by PP and replaced by Leahy. Not for the first time this season, PP moved around three players as subsitution was made and totally disrupted the team putting playing in unfamiliar positions. Late in the half it was that man Myler again causing us problems as his shot was well saved by the Blues Keeper.

After the half time team talk, we improved and started causing the Midlanders some problems as Trevor Berry ran like a hare up front chasing down every ball, but with the defence not pushing up the gap between the midfield and forwards was to wide to keep pressure on the visitors defence. Frosty's runs down the left were causing us terrible problems as he lost the ball every time and left a big gap behind him which Athlone exploited on more than one occasion. If Myler was guilty in the first half of missing chances, the second half belonged to Barry Wood. Woody had 3 great chances to put the Blues ahead but blasted all 3 over the ball as he was unable to keep his shots down. The refeere ended the game after 93 minutes and a point apeice is not much good for either team as the league leaders start to fade away in the distance.

One goal in three games sums up the Blues performances at the moment and with the halfway stage getting nearer another season in Division one looks likely with Drogheda and Finn Harps now seven points ahead with two games in hand.