Patient Paul grabs his chance

Reporter: Matthew Chambers
Date published: 04 April 2014


THE NEXT save, the next game, the next season – everything is one step at a time for Athletic’s new first-choice goalkeeper Paul Rachubka.

There are no wild predictions nor lame excuses why Athletic’s season has been so disappointing in terms of points compared to performance.

Currently with his 14th different club in a 14-year career that started at Manchester United, Rachubka has seen it all before.

“Nothing changes — especially the weather at Boundary Park. It was great when the hailstones came down against Crawley,” said the smiling player. “Just be glad you are playing, I told myself, even though hail had gone down my ear three times and down my back as well. That was when I really knew I was back at Oldham.”

There’s a lengthy gap between his debut for the club – on loan from Manchester United – in 2001, and his second league bow, at Crewe three weeks ago.

Having been here for most of the season as cover for Mark Oxley, he could have been forgiven for thinking he would never get a shot at becoming a fixture in the first team. But what of his future now, after an impressive sequence in which he has conceded only two goals in four outings?

Rachubka (32), out of contract at the end of the season, is careful not to jump the gun.

“I am just enjoying playing each game as it comes. If you start thinking too far ahead it comes round to bite you,” he added.

The attention came Rachubka’s way thanks to a terrific late stop from Brentford’s Stuart Dallas, when most inside Boundary Park were expecting a goal.
“I just made myself as big as possible to try to get something on it and put him off or block it,” he added.


With that useful draw in the bag, a game that appears more than winnable arrives on Saturday as Athletic take on a Bradford side that has won only twice at home since September.

The key for Athletic at this stage, Rachubka says, is to aim for gradual improvement.

He said: “We are building something, one game at a time. The manager is very thorough and makes sure we sit down and go through everything.

“Hopefully, it is showing on the pitch. That is all you get to see, out on the pitch. But we are here every day grafting.”