Boss ponders cup options

MANAGER John Sheridan could change a winning team tomorrow when he takes his Athletic side to the big local derby at Rochdale.

Athletic launched their season with a remarkable league victory over Millwall on Saturday, yet Sheridan is pondering a new approach to make best use of his squad.

He admitted: “I might pick different teams based on whether we are home or away. I think it might benefit us.

“I’m not really into rotation, and it’s not always right to change things after a win, but I look at some of the players and they just perform different away.

“One or two are outstanding when they play here, but then we go to an away game and you don’t really see them.

“There are quite a few different things on my mind, but that’s something I will definitely use at some point this season.”

The strength of Athletic’s squad was highlighted against Millwall when Lee Hughes, Danny Whitaker and Lewis Alessandra all come off the bench to have a major impact.

And Sheridan went on: “It’s short and sweet — the substitutes changed the game and all three of them did very well.

“Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but they gave everyone a lift and I’ve got to mention Danny Whitaker because he was excellent.

“He got us going and we started moving the ball quicker. He picked up our game and caused Millwall a lot of problems.

“It’s down to the subs that we won. People can get down and depressed when you are losing 3-1, but after they went on we dominated the game — they have given me food for thought.”

Sheridan will be able to include 18 players at Rochdale as clubs can name seven substitutes for the Carling Cup.

The first-round tie is strictly all-ticket and these are available from Boundary Park until 4.30pm tomorrow. Around 700 remain from Athletic’s 3,200-seat allocation.

Striker Craig Davies has signed a contract extension which takes him through to the end of next season.

As Athletic also hold an option for a further year, they can effectively keep the Wales international at Boundary Park until the summer of 2011.

Davies (22) arrived from Verona in a deal worth around £70,000, but his potential value is now much higher.

He scored 14 goals in an injury-hit first season at the club and his original deal was due to run out next summer.