Leader George is loud and proud

George Elokobi

GEORGE Elokobi’s impact on the Athletic team was praised by his manager in spite of the midweek Capital One Cup defeat to Middlesbrough.

Operating in the middle of a three-man defence on his full debut for the club, the 28-year-old former Wolves man was generally solid in spite of the Championship club’s dominance.

He is likely to keep his place when Leyton Orient arrive at SportsDirect.com Park on Saturday, as Athletic bid to pick up a first three points of the season in their second Sky Bet League One outing.

Johnson said Elokobi took on some aspects of leadership at the back, in the continued absence of injured club captain Adam Lockwood.

“At times, he did that well and certainly he was a voice you could hear,” Johnson said. “We squeezed the play better as a defence.

“It was just that with Middlesbrough’s quality, we couldn’t retain the ball well enough to impose ourselves on them.

“But I thought he did alright on his debut and I was quite pleased with him.”

One change to the side that is almost certain is the restoration of Jonathan Forte, either to a role on the left flank or as a partner up front for Jonson Clarke-Harris.

Athletic missed Forte’s ability to put opponents on the back foot with his pace against Boro and after scoring twice on his debut at Colchester, Johnson was unwilling to field him off the substitutes’ bench in a lost cause three days later.

“One we had gone 3-0 down, I didn’t want to risk him,” the manager said.

“We will get this fluid off his knee a little bit and then, as he showed at Colchester, he can be very dangerous at our level.”

Midfield man Mike Jones missed the midweek Capital One Cup defeat as a precautionary measure due to a knee problem, but could be back in contention for Saturday.

ATHLETIC will find out their opponents in the first round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy when the draw is made on Soccer AM on Saturday morning.

In the North-East section of the draw, there are seven clubs Athletic could face: Barnsley, Bradford, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Notts County, Scunthorpe or York.

First-round ties will take place on the week starting Monday, September 1.