SSE Airtricity First Division Playoff semi-final first legs
ATHLONE TOWN 1 (Dean Ebbe 52 pen) WEXFORD FC 0
BRAY WANDERERS 2 (Guillermo Almirall 17, Cristian Magerusan 70) UCD 0
IT WAS a good night for home teams in the SSE Airtricity First Division Playoff semi-finals, as both Bray Wanderers and Athlone Town will take leads into their away fixtures next Monday afternoon.
Bray will be by far the more confident of the two sides as Cristian Magerusan’s goal with 20 minutes to play means they will have a two-goal cushion to defend at Belfield, a fair reflection of the tie, albeit after the students from UCD made the brighter start.
Ronan Finn’s effort from the edge of the box was the best chance that the visitors had in those opening exchanges, but Jimmy Corcoran held onto the strike.
Cole Omorehiomwan tested Kian Moore at the other end with a header, but the next chance didn’t go astray, Guillermo Almirall finishing from close range to give Kieran Cruise’s fantastic low cross the crown it deserved.
There were chances at both ends through the third quarter but it was another low cross, this time from Conor Knight on the opposite right hand side, that set up Cristian Magerusan for the game’s second goal, much to the delight of 1,205 supporters at the Carlisle Grounds.
Moments of drama were much fewer in Athlone, and only Dean Ebbe’s penalty separated Athlone Town and Wexford at the end of a dour 90 minutes in the Midlands tonight.
Gideon Tetteh’s clever interception and sharp footwork forced Lewis Temple into his awkward body check of the 19-year-old winger after 52 minutes, and the division’s top scorer duly sent the ‘keeper the wrong way to make the spot kick look easy.
The creation of good attacking moves was anything but easy for the two sides outside of that as it was defenders such as German Fuentes Rodriguez and Oisín Duffy on the Athlone side, as well as Wexford’s holding midfielder Ethan Boyle, who were the leading lights on the field.
Initially, Noah Van Geenen and Ebbe connected well and looked like they might cause problems for the visitors, but Wexford started to take control of more possession from the 15-minute mark.
The pace and power of Thomas Oluwa caused Athlone some problems, even if a speculative 25-yard shot from Aaron Dobbs was the only effort that forced Enda Minogue into action.
Once Tetteh’s run and Ebbe’s spot kick broke the deadlock early in the second half, a little bit more space opened up through the middle.
Leonardo Gaxha and Van Geenen had their moments while Oluwa, Ethan Boyle and Divin Isamala ran hard and direct at the Athlone defence. But it was all to no avail.
Despite winning nine corners across the 90 minutes, Wexford were reduced to meek shots from distance that never looked like getting them back on level terms.