Defender handed another chance to display his quality

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED . . . Gavin Gunning has a good reputation despite his injury problems.

DARREN Kelly chose to take only ONE trialist up to Stirling for the training camp.

And Athletic's manager is hopeful that centre-back Gavin Gunning will be fit enough to feature as soon as tomorrow night in the closed-doors clash with St Mirren.

After the Chester win, the three other players who featured while on trial – Slovenian forward Alen Ploj, former Sunderland defender Tom McNamee and ex-Chester trainee Liam Blake – stayed at home while Athletic's squad travelled north of the border.

The group includes the players who were rested at the Deva Stadium.

And as for Gunning, who took a knock to his foot late on against Chester, Kelly explained just why he is so keen to bring him to the club permanently.

“He (Gunning) is fine and we have the benefit up here of our physio (Craig Schofield) being almost able to monitor him all day round,” Kelly said.

“As it stands, he is ok to play. It isn't as bad as we first feared.

“Hopefully, he will train today with no problems and feature tomorrow night and on Friday against Stirling Albion.

“He comes highly recommended and though he has had injury problems, he is still a young man.

“If he was 30-odd years old I would be extremely concerned.

“As it is, he is a leader on the field who gives us balance being left-footed.

He is aggressive and has been captain at every club he has been at.

“The key area for us is centre-back, now we have got the goalkeeping sorted out.

“Gavin has come in as we know and we continue to monitor that situation.”

As the squad and staff enter their third day on-site in Stirling, Kelly believes the mix of hard graft – it is double sessions for the players every day so far – and relaxation within the local university's facilities offers a rounded experience for the players.

“The good thing about these trips is that they give the new lads, especially, a chance to bond with their team-mates,” he added.

email: mattchambers@oldhamchronicle.co.uk