Waterford United v Athlone Town
Football: Republic of Ireland, 1st Division
Friday 19th June 2009 - Kickoff 19:45

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Waterford host Athone in Division 1 on Friday night. Lying in 4th place in the league with a W9 D2 L3 record translating into a home record of W4 D1 L2, Waterford have lost their last 2 games, though they won 8 and drew 1 of the previous 9 games before that.

Athlone Town have only won 1 game in theie last 8 matches, and that came vs Kildare County who have been slaughtered by every side in the division.

When you consider this divison from a betting perspective is is improtant to realise that this league shows a huge difference in quality when comparing the top sides to the bottom ones.

U.C.D, Sporting Fingal, Shelbourne and Waterford adre all closely packed at the top, and tend to beat anyone from outside that mini-group.

Waterford have lost to Shelbourne (x2) and to Wexford (5th), and have drawn vs Sporting Fingal and U.C.D. Waterford have not dropped points vs anyone outside of the top 5 in the league. This strongly reflects the divide in Division 1.

At the foot of the table you have 3-4 sides who are poorer than the rest (but better than Kildare). Athlone are in this group. Then there are a couple of mid-level sides, such as Wexford and Limerick.

Athlone haven't got a point of any of the top 5 sides in any game this season. They have beaten Kildare (x2) who are bottom, Longford (2nd bottom), and Mervue who are in the lower half of the table.

On paper the gulf between the two sides is immense - Waterford won the 1st match up with the 2 sides, in Athlone 2-1. With home advantage it is highly likely that they will continue.

Here is the current form for both sides;

Waterford's recent record :
L 1-0 vs Shelbourne (A)
L 1-2 vs Wexford (H)
W 4-1 vs Sporting Fingal (A)
D 0-0 vs U.C.D. (A)
W 2-0 vs Kildare (H)
W 2-0 vs Mervue (H)
W 2-0 vs Limerick (A)
W 6-0 vs Monaghan (H)

Athlone's recent record :
L 0-2 vs Limerick (H)
W 1-0 vs Kildare (A)
D 2-2 vs Mervue (H)
L 0-2 vs Sporting Fingal (A)
L 0-1 vs U.C.D. (H)
L 2-3 vs Monaghan (H)
L 0-2 vs Shelbourne (A)
D 2-2 vs Finn Harps (H)

The Betting Verdict

The gap between the 2 sides is significant.

Shelbourne, Sporting Fingal, U.C.D. and Waterford are winning consistently vs all of the teams in the bottom 4-5 of the league table.

Athlone have only beaten the poorest of sides, getting 6 points from Kildare, and beating 2 bottom Longford as well.

Take Waterford to win this game.

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Waterford to win this game at prices of around 4/11.

The odds on Waterford to win HT/FT are also very tempting at 11/10 (2.10) as similar.