Johnson hails ‘old school’ Lockwood

Date published: 07 April 2014


ADAM Lockwood’s toughness of mind was a key feature of Athletic’s important victory at Valley Parade.

The 32-year-old centre-back was a titanic figure for the visitors, putting in some mighty challenges against a physically-robust outfit from West Yorkshire.

His manager Lee Johnson revealed afterwards that his unyielding defensive leader from Wakefield played through the pain barrier for half the contest with a groin injury.

“Locky was struggling and it just goes to show the character of the lad,” said Johnson, after a 3-2 win that stretches Athletic’s unbeaten run to five matches and pushes the club to 16th in the league.

“He’s old school and strong enough to get through 45 minutes.”

The star of the show for the visitors at the other end of the pitch was undoubtedly Jonson Clarke-Harris, who scored twice – just before half-time to put Athletic back in front and then again shortly before the hour to establish a two-goal advantage.

James Wesolowski had opened the scoring for Athletic, with Adam Reach levelling in the first half.

And though Wesolowski’s opposite number, veteran skipper Gary Jones, reduced the arrears for Bradford in added time, Johnson was nonetheless delighted with the way his men went about their task.

“It was always going to be a tough game, on a tight pitch. They are very solid and I’m delighted we scored three goals,” said Johnson.

“We put in a good performance. Though I was disappointed with both the goals we conceded, defensively we were pretty good throughout.

“We felt comfortable. It never feels as comfortable when you are caught up in it in the dug-out, but I think the supporters will have felt comfortable and we sent our travelling fans home with smiles on their faces for the next couple of weeks, which is good.”