Liam rallies troops after LJ’s exit

NO SLACKING: Liam Kelly insists Athletic remain desperate to secure a place in the promotion play-offs.

FROM team-mate to boss to simply ‘Lee’, it’s all part of the game for Athletic’s unrelenting captain Liam Kelly.

The departure of Kelly’s former Kilmarnock team-mate Lee Johnson means the former boss will no longer be known as ‘gaffer’ when the pair make contact in future.

The loss of the promising manager to Barnsley has hit plenty of fans where it hurts. The man himself was moved to admit in his opening Oakwell press conference that the timing was far from perfect.

Kelly is determined there will be no collective staring at shoes from the players.

With Dean Holden in charge for “the foreseeable future”, assisted Adam Lockwood - known among the players as “the general” - the skipper’s focus remains trained on the top six.

“We have to take it game by game and that is as far ahead as we can look at the minute,’ said Kelly.

“I would be very happy if Dean and Locky were here until the end of the season. They are well liked in the dressing room and are both very experienced players now coming into management. I am sure the lads will want to do well for them.

“Lee has gone on to a new challenge but we keep going. There are 15 games to the end of the season and a lot of points to play for. The goal is to get into those play-off places. We leave no stone unturned trying to achieve that.

“We are all pleased for Lee - as we can call him now - and he wants to achieve things in football. It is a big club, Barnsley. The lads can’t now go on cruise control to the end of the season. We are still in with a real chance of achieving something.”

Kelly denied that speculation over Johnson’s future cast a cloud over recent match preparations and believes the comeback to draw 2-2 with Preston in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy before exiting via an epic penalty shoot-out shows Athletic can compete with their well-heeled neighbours tomorrow.

He added: “I don’t think we really have anything to lose going into this game. At the same time, we have got something to achieve.”