Drogheda United made it five wins on the bounce after they defeated Athlone Town 4-2 at United Park. Both sides hit the frame of the goal inside the opening 10 minutes as Luke Heeney clipped the bar before Aaron Brilly’s low shot was brilliantly tip
Drogheda United made it five wins on the bounce after they defeated Athlone Town 4-2 at United Park.
Both sides hit the frame of the goal inside the opening 10 minutes as Luke Heeney clipped the bar before Aaron Brilly’s low shot was brilliantly tipped onto the post by Luca Grazter.
The hosts soon took control of the contest and they opened the scoring on 29 minutes as Mark Hughes’ diagonal pass picked out James Brown down the right who crossed for Sean Brennan to fire home.
Drogheda doubled their advantage six minutes later when Brennan’s powerful strike from distance was only parried by Athlone keeper Aaron Myles into the path of Chris Lyons to net his seventh of the season.
A poor first-half for the visitors was compounded just before the break as slack defending allowed Lyons in again and while Myles denied his initial effort, he cut the ball back for Heeney to roll the ball into the empty net.
Athlone’s fight never waned and they were given a lifeline on 62 minutes as Cian Kavanagh’s under-hit back pass was pounced upon by Evan Pierce who slotted the ball beyond the advancing Gratzer.
The Drogheda keeper was picking the all out of his net again two minutes later after he was caught out by Kaleem Simon’s speculative drive from distance. Athlone penned Drogheda back for much of the second-half but it was United who sealed the three points in the dying stages as James Clarke capitalised on Myles’ error to effectively finish the contest.
The victory lifts Drogheda up to second place in the table for a couple of hours at least ahead of Longford’s clash with Wexford this evening.
