Athlone Town cruised to their first home win in four with a 4-1 win over Finn Harps in Lissywollen this evening.

Noah Van Geenan opened proceedings. Scott Wara put it into his own net before Billy Banda got Harps back into it. A Valeri Dolia brace saw Athlone build a lead they wouldn’t cease

Athlone got off to an absolutely ideal start. Just six minutes in a corner from the right resulted in Van Geenan meeting it and Hickey picking up the loose ball. The American took his time, played it back to Van Geenan who calmly finished for the opener.

It then got hectic between the 20^th and 30^th minute. Scott Wara gave Athlone their second when he attempted to deal with a Campion Hinds cross from the right and just got his execution all wrong.

The Athlone celebrations were short lived however as Harps had a lifeline two minutes later. Jamie Watson swung in an absolutely superb cross from the right, getting a perfect dip on it. Billy Banda rose highest at the back post, towering above his marker and firing it into the Athlone net, a wonderful goal for Harps.

Five minutes later Athlone showed their Uno card. Michael Peprah took a quick throw from left back and found Pierrot down the line who drew the attention of multiple Harps defenders. This opened up room for Dolia who Pierrot played through and set one-on-one with Antonio Tuta. Dolia kept his calm and lofted it over the Harps goalkeeper to make it 3-1.

It got even better for Dolia and Athlone in the 38^th minute. He found himself on the end of a great passing move on the right-hand side and cut onto his left foot. From well outside the box, he found the top corner, an absolutely wonderful goal to make this 4-1 and essentially seal it.

The second half was a very quiet affair on the chances front. Athlone were more than happy with the order of things and Harps looked spent from the first half. The talking points would be red cards handed out to each side.

Michael Peprah got his marching orders for the home side in the 79^th minute. The new man for Athlone had played a solid game but two sloppy tackles in quick succession around this time saw two yellows given to him, sending the home side down to ten.

Daniel Stokoe levelled the playing field with a red in the 88^th minute. A 50/50 between himself and German Fuentes Rodriguez ended with Stokoe putting in a horror tackle, catching Rodriguez high. The red wasn’t protested whatsoever.

Athlone will be happy with the end result. It breaks a bad run of form at home and gives them some breathing room in the table.