Latics skipper could return for crucial games

Reporter: Matthew Chambers
Date published: 30 March 2015


CAPTAIN Liam Kelly is set to lead the way against his former club as Athletic try to ignite their form in a make-or-break Easter.

A calf injury has ruled Kelly out fo the last five games, but he, Joseph Mills and James Wilson should be in the reckoning for freshened-up Athletic’s Good Friday home clash with Bristol City and Crawley on Easter Monday.

“Kells woke up on Saturday morning sore and that one was taken out of my hands, really,” said manager Dean Holden. “We will get a good week into them and hopefully get them back for Friday and then Monday.”

After seeing his side succumb 2-0 at Bradford on a heavy pitch that would have proved risky for the trio and hamstring-hit striker Rhys Turner - Holden susggested his side simply didn’t have the legs to test Bradford’s back line in the second half.

The defeat leaves Athletic 13th in the league, four points adrift of the play-off places.

“The pitch was the same for both teams,” said Holden. “But it doesn’t really affect the way they play, whereas we had to adapt our game.

“We didn’t get as much change out of their defence as we would have liked, certainly after Gary MacKenzie came on. He is a good player at this level and he made them very solid.

“In the last 20 minutes we didn’t get the ball back as much as we needed to. It just didn’t happen for us in the second half. It had been a tough week for us, with three big games.”

Goalkeeper Jake Kean aborted his warm-up at Bradford after complaining of a sore foot and midfield man Danny Philliskirk was substituted after suffering dizziness.

After failing to land a third straight win, Athletic need to get back on track quickly. Holden, though, knows it won’t be easy against a Bristol City side who have dominated the division so far this term to stand 10 points clear at the top.