Omens good, but acid test to come

WAITING GAME: Experienced midfielder Kevin Maher.

AFTER drawing with Huddersfield on Saturday, Athletic have now completed their longest unbeaten start to any campaign for 18 years.

While it’s still very early days — eight played, 38 league games to go for John Sheridan and his side — there’s no doubt they have thrown down the gauntlet to their rivals.

Athletic’s run of five victories and three draws has earned them top spot in League One with a marginally better goal difference than Scunthorpe.

They could lose their position tonight when Leicester City, who are currently two points behind, go to Colchester, but everything looks set for an enjoyable season at the right end of the table.

Athletic stayed unbeaten for seven games in 2001/02 when they won three and drew four under Andy Ritchie’s management.

That was a time when the club had a new owner in Chris Moore — the less said about him the better — and Ritchie was actually out of a job within a matter of weeks.

Sheridan, of course, is sailing in much calmer waters, and not since 1990/91 have Athletic been able to boast such a consistent and promising start.

Joe Royle’s team ended up securing promotion to the top flight. And if Sheridan can emulate his most celebrated predecessor by remaining unbeaten for another eight matches, he would also equal the club record.

That seems a long way in the future and, beginning this weekend, Athletic are about to face an acid test of their ability to last the pace.

Rightly or wrongly, they have gained a reputation for under-achieving against the so-called lesser lights . . . . step forward Stockport County and Hereford United.

No offence is meant to Stockport, who are sure to play some bright attacking football on Friday night, but they have yet to win at home this season.

And lowly Hereford will arrive at Boundary Park on Sunday week without a single point from four away trips.

This double-header, when expectation is high and the opposition apparently have little to lose, is just the sort of obstacle which has floored Athletic in the past.

It has hazard signs plastered all over it, yet there is a feeling that Sheridan’s current squad may well have the character and depth to cope.

Athletic have dug in several times this season, battling from behind and showing a never-say-die attitude which has been central to preserving their record.

On top of that, a period of good luck on the injury front has meant players such as Chris O’Grady, Kevin Maher, Deane Smalley, Greg Fleming, Stefan Stam and Craig Davies all struggling to hold down places.

Maher, the vastly experienced midfield man who joined from Southend, has not even been named on the bench for Athletic’s last two matches.

Wales international Davies was top scorer last season, while O’Grady, Smalley, Fleming and Stam — not to mention other members of the squad — would be regular starters for many other teams in League One.


THE 1990/91season delivered Athletic’s best-ever start as they won 11 league games and drew five before losing in mid-November.

The previous record was an unbeaten run of 13, set in 1952/53 — in both cases, Athletic finished top of the table.