Longford Town come from behind twice to earn a draw against Athlone
SSE Airtricity League First Division
Athlone Town . . . 2 Longford Town . . . 2
A few first team regulars were missing as Longford manager Gary Cronin opted to start Colm Cox in place of Luke Dennison for the second consecutive game and the reserve keeper produced a great save at a crucial stage of the second half at the Athlone Town Stadium.
The revitalised home side, who had won their previous two fixtures against Cobh Ramblers and Wexford, were leading 2-1 at the time and were denied a third goal when Cox came to the rescue in the 54th minute.
The Town equaliser in the 61st minute was a sensational long range strike from Aaron Robinson who fired a rocket into the top corner of the net beyond the reach of the helpless Athlone keeper Minogue.
Longford captain Sam Verdon went close to snatching a winner in the 86th minute as his side had to settle for a point in the build-up to the promotion play-offs.
In a dramatic start to the game it was Athlone who took the lead in the 5th minute when Adam Lennon hit the target from close range but the Town were quickly back on level terms when Jordan Adeyemo scored in the 9th minute.
That was the way it remained until the 43rd minute when Athlone went back in front with a goal from Thomas Oluwa but the brilliant equaliser from the awesome Aaron Robinson cracker was worth the admission money alone.
Longford Town are back in league action on Monday night against the FAI Cup semi-finalists Waterford FC at Bishopsgate, kick-off 7.45pm.
ATHLONE TOWN: Minogue, Jones, Van Geenen, Spain, Lennon, Oluwa, Connolly, Duffy, Armstrong, Hickey, Mutawe.
Subs:- Kavanagh for Armstrong (72 mins); Dobbin and McCarrick for Lennon and Oluwa (88 mins); Dolia for Kavanagh (stoppage time).
LONGFORD TOWN: Colm Cox; Michael Barker, Matthew Dunne, Mick McDonnell, Ben Lynch; Aaron Robinson, Dean McMenamy; Darren Clarke, Sam Verdon, Mark Hanratty; Jordan Adeyemo.
Subs:- Karl Chambers for Dunne (half-time); Joe Power and Kian Corbally for Lynch and Clarke (67 mins); Cristian Magerusan for Adeyemo (75 mins); Brandon McCann for Verdon (injured, 89 mins).