Finn Harps v Athlone Town – eircom League of Ireland First Division – Finn Park, Friday 29 th June 2007 – kick-off 8.00pm

Finn Harps will aim to win their fifth league game on the trot as they host Athlone Town at Finn Park tomorrow evening, Friday. Harps go into the game as one of the in-form teams in the First Division and Paul Hegarty's side have lost just once in the previous eleven games in all competitions. Friday's game marks the third game in six days for Harps.

Hegarty welcomes back striker Stephen Parkhouse who missed the 2-0 midweek victory over Kildare County through suspension. But, he must plan without the banned Shaun Holmes who misses the visit of Athlone. Holmes will be a big loss to Hegarty, as the Derry native has formed a Harps defence that has kept cleans sheets in six of the last seven league games.

The Harps boss knows his team have been impressing of late. "We go into Friday's match on the back of a good run of form and I though, in particular, the first half of Tuesday night's game against Kildare County was tremendous. Some of the football was played at a very high tempo. With a wee bit of luck, we could have came in maybe two or three ahead and the match would have been over."

With Holmes suspended, Hegarty could slot Jonathan Minnock back into his favoured full-back role. However, Minnock has been a revelation in the centre of Harps defence since moving there for the FAI Cup game earlier in the month and is likely to stay in the centre. Therefore, Hegarty is likely to deploy the services of Matthew Crossan in the place of Holmes to give the minimum of disruption to a team that is on fire at the moment. Crossan filled the same role when the same two sides met at Lissywollen earlier in the season. The Harps boss must also decided whether or not to recall Parkhouse to his starting line-up. Seamus Brown filled the place of Parkhouse on Tuesday evening and scored in goal, but whether this is good enough for him to hold onto his starting place remains to be seen. Elsewhere, the team will be unchanged.

Harps leapfrogged Athlone on the league table on Tuesday night. While Harps were beating Wexford and Kildare in the last week, Town lost to Kildare County and drew with Monaghan United. Another victory on Saturday evening will put Harps in pole position for a charge on the play-offs spot. They currently sit one place and six points off the play-offs, but they do have a game in hand.

In six meetings between these two sides last season, Harps could only muster one victory – that coming in a 2-0 victory at Finn Park on the evening that Jonathan Minnock break the appearances record for Harps. Earlier this season, the two clubs played out a 2-2 draw in Athlone – a result that started a run of eleven games which returned just one defeat for Harps. "The team is playing with a bit of a zip, but Athlone will be another massive game", said Hegarty. "We have to prepare for that properly. It is going to be a difficult. They are probably the one team that did give us a bit of a chasing that time we played them down in Athlone."

The games are coming thick and fast for Harps and after Friday's game against Athlone, they must prepare for a League Cup quarter-final against UCD at Belfield on Monday night. This game marks the start of a trio of away matches, with trips to Kilkenny and Dundalk to follow.

Previous Meetings:

12 th May 2006 (First Division) Athlone Town 1 Finn Harps 0

22 nd July 2006 (First Division) Finn Harps 2 Athlone Town 0

26 th August 2006 (FAI Cup) Finn Harps 0 Athlone Town 0

29 th August 2006 (FAI Cup) Athlone Town 3 Finn Harps 2

22 nd September 2006 (First Division) Athlone Town 2 Finn Harps 1

28 th April 2007 (First Division) Athlone Town 2 Finn Harps 2

Form guide (last six league games):

Finn Harps: W-W-W-W-L-D (13pts)

Athlone Town : D-L-W-L-W-L (7pts)

Tomorrow's game at Finn Park kicks-off at 8.00pm.