Two-goal Jonson carries out threat

Reporter: MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date published: 07 April 2014


LEE JOHNSON revealed that two-goal hero Jonson Clarke-Harris promised him before the game that he would prove to be a destructive force at Valley Parade.

Athletic’s teenage striker blasted in two goals either side of the break to help the visitors to a valuable victory over Bradford — one that tides the club over in the 12 days between outings with no fears of being sucked into the relegation zone by the time the visit to strugglers Colchester arrives on Good Friday.

They were Clarke-Harris’s seventh and eighth goals of the campaign. But while praising the impact of the former Coventry and Peterborough forward, Johnson said there’s more to come.

“I asked him before the game, ‘Jonno, are you going to be a whirlwind or a whirlpool?’

“He said, ‘gaffer, I’m going to be a hurricane’,” Johnson told the Chronicle, following a game in which Athletic finished their chances with unusual ruthlessness.

“It turned out well and I was certainly pleased for him to go out and get the two goals after all the effort he has put in over the last three or four games.

“He’s learning all the time. He is still a boy, learning through playing. But the games are getting him fitter and more streetwise.

“They were two decent finishes. We know when he gets it on his left foot he is powerful.

“The good thing is, the opposition are frightened to death of him. You see it and hear it in little comments that are made. It’s a good thing; he has to use that.”

Johnson stresses that avoiding relegation is still not certain, particularly after results elsewhere.

But he believes he possesses the strength and continuity to keep Athletic’s five-win run going.

“It is something we are delighted with and it has taken this long into the season to be able to do that.”