Taylor doubt for Tranmere test

CHRIS TAYLOR

CHRIS TAYLOR remains a doubt for Athletic’s big relegation battle away at Tranmere Rovers tomorrow.

The winger, who has experienced a frustrating season in and out of the side through a combination of illness and injury, has yet to fully recover from a sore hip sustained in training last week when he collided with Dale Stephens and is rated by boss Dave Penney as only a 50-50 chance to play at Prenton Park.

On the positive side, Pawel Abbott is fit and ready to form a new strike partnership with on-loan Millwall man Jason Price — a player Penney believes will help solve his team’s continuing goalscoring woes.

“Jason is effective in the penalty box,” said Penney, who played alongside the 32-year-old when the forward was coming up through the ranks at Swansea City.

“He likes to stay there, where things hit him and go in, so we are hoping his presence up there will take a little bit of weight off Pawel’s shoulders.

“It adds to our attacking options. We felt we needed a bigger player — we have Keigan (Parker) who has got pace, we have Pawel who is a good size though not a typical big centre-forward and Pricey will give us a little bit of presence up there as well.”

Also in the squad for the trip to the Wirral are ‘keeper Darryl Flahavan and centre-back Hasney Aljofree.

Flahavan is back for a second spell on loan from Crystal Palace and will sport a protective facial mask after sustaining a fractured cheekbone if selected in place of Dean Brill.

And Aljofree is likely to be on the bench after signing a short-term pay-as-you-play deal until the end of the season following his release by Swindon.

“He is local so we have put him on a short-term contract as cover for Reuben (Hazell) and Sean (Gregan) in case we have a problem,” said Penney of the Aljofree signing.

As for the game itself, under-pressure Penney accepts that it is crucial Athletic come back home with three points which could propel the team out of the Coca-Cola League One relegation zone.

“It is probably as big as we have had so far,” he added. “We are getting four or five matches behind on teams now and so we need to play the game and we need to make sure we get some points.”

Athletic (from): Brill, Goodwin, Hazell, Gregan, Jacobson, Smalley, Furman, Stephens, Taylor, Abbott, Parker, Marrow, Black, Whitaker, Lee, Brooke, Eaves, Colbeck, Flahavan, Price, Aljofree.