Cup-tie hope

Forest match offers chance to progress

IT MIGHT not quite match up to last year’s dream date at Liverpool, but Athletic chairman Simon Corney is happy with the FA Cup third round draw at ambitious Championship side Nottingham Forest early next year.

Athletic saw off Doncaster 3-1 at Boundary Park on Saturday.

Ironically, Forest striker Matt Derbyshire’s spell with Athletic comes to a forced end after the home clash with Swindon on December 15.

Now cup-tied to Athletic, he won’t feature in the clash unless a deal is done to bring him back to Boundary Park for the whole of the second half of the season.

While uncertainty remains over both the future of Derbyshire and his influential strike partner Jose Baxter, Corney hopes Athletic’s coffers will benefit from the split gate at the City Ground.

“Hopefully, we will take a healthy following and their crowd could be around the 15,000 mark.

“I won’t go there expecting to win. But is it impossible?

“I have seen us score five goals against Forest and I have also seen them beat us easily. If we catch them on a bad day, we could get through.”

Athletic took 6,000 fans to Anfield in the corresponding tie of last year’s competition.

Half that number could feasibly make the trip to Nottingham on January 5.