Athlone earned their first point of the season at home to Bray Wanderers tonight following a 1-1 draw.

A goal in the first half from former Athlone man Kurtis Byrne as well as a goal in the second half from Thomas Oluwa saw that this finished level.

It didn’t take long for Bray to take the lead. In the 13^th minute, Athlone got caught trying to play the ball out from the back. A lofted pass was intercepted by a Bray head in midfield, whose header set Kurtis Byrne through on goal. Byrne made no mistake upon his Lissywollen return and slotted it by Schlingermann to make it 1-0.

Four minutes later it should have been two. A cross into the box was headed down to Rob Manley who got an effort off at close range but fired over. A miss Bray would come to rue.

In the 33^rd minute, Thomas Oluwa went bombing down the left wing and squared it Carlton Ubaezuono. Ubaezuono had a chance at goal but just missed his cue, as if the ball got stuck under his feet. A disappointing one to say the least.

Athlone had another decent chance in the 41^st minute when Success Edogun got the ball on the right and fired a shot/cross across the face of goal, but it didn’t get the desired contact required to put it in.

Ten minutes into the second half Athlone fired a warning shot. Ubaezuono got the ball on the edge of the area and twisted in and out, but fired wide. Another disappointing miss, but a warning Bray did not heed.

Three minutes later it was all level. Thomas Oluwa was played through and took it onto his left, bending it into the bottom corner. A goal that was fair given the balance of play.

Athlone had a pair of good chances after the hour mark. Firstly, Oluwa was slipped in again after Ubaezuono was fouled on the edge of the area. The ref played a good advantage after it fell Oluwa’s way, but he fired straight at McGuinness.

About a minute later Oluwa again squared it to Ubaezuono in a good position. Ubaezuono fluffed the chance completely however and let Bray off the hook.

Athlone had some momentum around then but failed to kick on. Both sides showed a willingness to win, but neither got the breakthrough. A draw was probably fair.