Latics grab spot prize

Mike Jones puts himself about for Athletic

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Athletic 1, Fleetwood 0

CARL Winchester lit up this controversial, entertaining game with one moment of absolute magic in the first half.

Accepting the ball midway in the opponents' half towards the Rochdale Road end, the lithe midfielder from Belfast twirled before easing past a pair of Fleetwood defenders who couldn’t have been more bewildered had the ghost of Elvis Presley landed in a spaceship in the centre circle.

Athletic, racing along on a run of three wins in eight days, is brimming with the sort of confidence illustrated in Winchester's moves.

The audience may not match prime time on BBC1 but there are shoots of recovery on that front, too. As Lee Johnson's ever-improving men climb to 11th in the league – two points behind the play-off spots – the number of supporters inside the ground was close-on 4,000.

Winchester's show of skill, added to the thrill of watching the likes of five-goal Jonathan Forte and highly promising debutant Dominic Poleon in action, can only encourage even greater numbers through the turnstiles.

Fleetwood bristled with indignation. Manager Graham Alexander and his players were furious at the decision of referee Mark Brown to award the penalty converted by Forte in the 45th minute, claiming no contact between Steven Schumacher and Danny Philliskirk.

Were Athletic fortunate? Perhaps. But the speed of the break played its part. One moment Schumacher was seeing his shot pushed out smartly by Paul Rachubka and the next, increasingly-influential captain Liam Kelly had released Poleon down the right flank with a raking 50-yard pass.

The ball was worked through Forte to Philliskirk and as he skirted back across the penalty area, a retreating Schumacher panicked and dived in.

Philliskirk may have bought the decision, but Schumacher guided him to the checkout and handed him the goods.

Goalkeeper Chris Maxwell got an arm to Forte's powerful penalty, but couldn't prevent it from going in.

In an entertaining contest, Alexander's men came close to scoring three times, through Jamie Proctor before before the penalty, then Schumacher, then by Gareth Evans in the second half.

Athletic started slowly. The first chance came when the high energy of Mike Jones saw him sprint down the left and cross for Forte, whose control on his chest was as immaculate as his dragged finish wide of goal was powder-puff.

And when Fleetwood’s Nathan Pond left Philliskirk with a run on goal, a better finish than the off-target one he produced was expected.

Forte's withdrawal through injury stifled Athletic a little as an attacking force. The team saw the game out with some comfort: substitute Amari Morgan-Smith's hesitation cost him a first goal for the club and that was about that.