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eircom National League First Division

Date	02/09/2001
Score (Blues First)	1 - 0
Venue	St Mels Park, Athlone.
Kick Off	6.00 PM
Attendance	200
Weather	Dry and Windy
Referee	Hugo Whoriskey (why cant we get good refs in RSC)
Goal Scorers	Barry Wood
Cards	Yellow: Whittle K
Pitch	Very tight to side line but flat.

Our first victory of the season and it was well deserved as we out played and out fought The Blues of the Midlands in St Mels Park on Sunday evening.

From the outset the Boys from the South East set the pace and put it up to the home team. We played the better football and made all the running against last seasons playoff hopefuls and a Dempsey free kick from 28 yards skimmed the outside of the post and nearly give us an early lead. Minutes latter a cross whipped in by Moore was met by Thomas Fitzgerald's head only to go barely wide. After all our pressure a defensive error left Myler in but he shot wide. In this league when games are so tight we cannot afford to make individual errors in defence that are going to cost us matches and this time it was Leahy who hesitated and should have been punished. It was in the 38th minute that the traveling Blues (10 of us), jumped together as Moore played the ball into Woody and when he controlled the ball with his chest, turned the defender and shot low from 17 yards into the corner of the net. Justice was done and the real Blues were one up at the interval.

Athlone with many disgruntled fans, 11 players on the pitch from Dublin, took to the field in the second half and just hit every ball long to Myler for the opening 10 minutes. The Waterford defence stood up to this battle well and then we took over the game again as we played the ball to feet with Dempsey running the game. A brilliant through ball from Barry saw Woody shoot high over the bar when clean through when a shot low on the ground would have beaten the keeper. This chance would have sown up the game for Waterford but then Athlone took over again but not by playing football more like rugby hit the ball long into the corners. With Wood now tired PP introduced Paddy Dooley and the young lad did well increasing the movement up front with Barry. Maurice O'Drisscoll's header in the last few minutes grazed the Waterford upright but it was three points well won by all fourteen players.

Our first win of the season was worth waiting for as our record in Athlone in recent years was not good. After our good performance against Dublin City we continued and improved on this and can now look forward to climbing the table and push for one of the two promotion places in the First Division. With injured players starting to come back PP's options will increase and competition for places will help reduce individual mistakes on the pitch.