Family fortunes reversed

Family rivalry - father Gary and son Lee

ATHLETIC manager Lee Johnson admits he will find it difficult on a personal level to pile more pressure on his dad by seeing off Yeovil.

Gary Johnson’s struggling side arrive at SportsDirect.com Park on Saturday on the back of a poor run of one win in their last 10 league outings — albeit, an impressive 2-1 success at Notts County.

The Glovers, second-bottom in Sky Bet League One after coming down from the Championship last season, limped to a 1-1 draw at Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup at the weekend and have work to do in the replay to land a plum home tie against Manchester United in round three.

But the focus first is on the second son-versus-father battle between the two clubs.

And if Johnson Jnr ultimately wants to emulate his father’s promotion via the play-offs two seasons ago, it’s a contest Athletic could do with winning.

“It is difficult,” said the Athletic boss. “I am only human and of course, I love my old man.

“They are going through a tough time, without a doubt.

“The professional, ruthless side of me wants to pulverise any side.

“The other side of it is, the first result I check for after our games — and even at half-time — is Yeovil’s.

“My dad wants his son to do well in the game. But he is in a position in the league which is unusual for him given his past record in the game.

“It's a complete role-reversal of the last time we faced each other. That game worked out in the respect that we won it, moved out of danger and Yeovil went up through the play-offs anyway.

“Whatever the result on the day, hopefully the outcome will be the same this season, only with the clubs swapping places.”

Athletic go into the game hoping to immediately shake off any lingering disappointment over the FA Cup loss to Doncaster last Saturday, a result which capped a “nightmare” period for chairman Simon Corney.

With only the league to concentrate on, as far as Johnson is concerned it is full steam ahead for the remainder of the campaign.

“The lads are disappointed after the Doncaster game and it was a mediocre performance, if not an awful one,” Johnson added.

“There were two sides out there who stifled each other and it should really have been a draw.

“We conceded a poor goal and that does happen to us too often.

“But all we can do now is to move on.

“We got in early on Monday and went through the DVD.

“Now we have got 27 hurdles left to jump in the league. And our task is to get over them.”
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