End of an era: St Mel's Park hosts one last drama for Athlone Town fans

Thousands of midlands soccer fans are expected to turn up tonight when the curtain comes down on St Mel's Park in Athlone, where the local side held mighty AC Milan to a nil-all draw in the 1976 Uefa Cup (the second-round match occurred in '75) - and among the attendance will be the man whose penalty kick was saved in that storied clash.

Johnny Minnock admitted this week he struck the shot poorly and had the agony of watching Italy's 1970 World Cup goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi easily gather the ball.

Athlone Town FC are about to move to a new venue on the outskirts of the town, and tonight Minnock believes there will be nostalgia in the air as Monaghan Town provide the opposition for the valedictory outing.

"There is an awful lot of history here. I have great memories of playing here - I played for Athlone Town for seven years and we had huge crowds every week," said Minnock of the venue where Athlone Town clinched two League of Ireland titles, in 1981 and 1983.

"We played well against AC Milan, and could have beaten them. Unfortunately, I hit the penalty poorly - maybe it was the nerves. There was a crowd of 9,000 in St Mel's Park that day."

AC Milan featured four of the players who had lined out in the 1973 European Cup Winners Cup final triumph over Leeds United, but they found a resolute Athlone Town hard to handle. In the second leg, at the San Siro stadium, the home team got into their rhythm and won 3-0.

Athlone Town, who have been struggling to recreate the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s, have decided to give free admission to all who turn up for tonight's game, and club official Pádraig Quinn said the move to the new stadium was "inevitable as St Mel's was beginning to show its age".

Minnock recreated the fateful 1975 penalty for the RTÉ cameras this week, and this time he found the net, albeit without any goalkeeper - let alone a World Cup finalist - standing between the sticks.

The new stadium will be open for the start of the 2007 season in March, and Quinn described it as "the end of an era, but the start of a glorious new chapter in the history of the club".