Bully for you!

Photo: PICTURE: ALAN HOWARTH

WELL, that was quite nice!

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LEE Johnson was delighted to see his young side overcome the bully-boy tactics of Mansfield and land a date at Anfield in the third round of the FA Cup.

A tactical change brought an amazing second-half turnaround and four goals from Danny Philliskirk, Jonson Clarke-Harris, Matteo Lanzoni and Adam Rooney as Athletic came from a goal behind against rugged opponents.

Prior to those strikes, the visitors were staring down the barrel at a shock exit from the competition.

A goal down after 12 minutes to Ross Dyer’s header, Athletic lost the services of midfield dynamo James Wesolowski to an eye injury midway through the half.

But an altered formation, in which Athletic went to three at the back, aided the recovery which was sparked by top scorer Philliskirk’s brilliant free-kick — his 10th goal of the season.

The comprehensive result means Athletic will face Liverpool for a third successive season on January 5.

“It was a show of massive character from our boys,” said Johnson. “They are growing up all the time.

“We knew they were going to try to bully us. You can’t keep bullying though, because if the passing is there and the workrate is there, eventually you get demoralised by the young whipper-snappers running around.”

The half-time change introduced Lanzoni as part of a three-man back line to turn the tables on the Stags.

“Something needed to happen,” said Johnson. “We needed to create the natural angles and I needed to put three against their three in midfield.

“As soon as we scored I just switched it back, as I knew then the game would open up. I was really pleased with the lads for their second-half display.

Wesolowski was rushed to hospital with a possibly fractured cheek bone

“Touch wood, he will be all right, but it was a bad one.”

Jonson Clarke-Harris picked up his fifth booking of the season last night and will serve a one-match ban when Athletic face Colchester at Boundary Park on Saturday in Sky Bet League One.