Positive riposte

PLENTY TO SHOUT ABOUT: Danny Whitaker (second right) is mobbed by his team-mates after equalising for Athletic. Pictures by TOM PICKLES

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Athletic 1, Leicester 1 

IF Leeds, Millwall and Leicester are three of the barometers by which all League One teams must be judged — and, looking at the league table, you don’t need Stephen Hawking to figure that one out — then Athletic can feel pretty good about themselves.

Having already conquered the first two this season, they took a thoroughly deserved point from a thoroughly entertaining game after roaring back on Saturday.

No disrespect to leaders Scunthorpe, but Athletic haven’t faced them yet and most of us reckoned promotion favourites Leicester City would provide the acid test.

Would Athletic be their equals and, by extension, show they can last the pace at the top? Based on their performance, not to mention the evidence of 10 previous outings, that’s a resounding yes.

Leicester preserved their unbeaten away run and John Sheridan’s men stayed undefeated at home, but before it was all confirmed we had an honest, uncompromising battle.

These were two good sides — two who will surely be in the reckoning come early May — and though Athletic took time to prove their quality, the mentality was clear.

Their reaction to falling behind was hugely positive as Danny Whitaker curled in a glorious equaliser, the fourth goal of his impressive campaign in midfield.

That sparked a flurry of attacks. Okay, at times Athletic left themselves vulnerable to the sucker punch, but they refused point-blank to settle for a draw, and that alone shows how far they have come.

The flair players on either side were largely kept in check, leaving it to grafters like Reuben Hazell and Mark Allott to demonstrate that plain old down-to-earth hard work is often the key to earning points.

Centre-back Hazell threw himself at everything, while midfield man Allott was like a nightclub doorman in a particularly aggressive mood, treating every challenge to his authority as a personal affront.

It was that kind of game; not pretty, not graceful, not many clear chances, yet somehow you couldn’t take your eyes off it.

Athletic were nervy, then quick and assured with their passing and movement. Leicester were the other way round. And both teams could have sealed victory.

Sheridan’s original plan was to use express pace out wide as he started with Chris Taylor and Danny Jones as wingers, dropping Andy Liddell despite the veteran hitting three goals in three games.

The best-laid schemes of mice and men . . . Athletic lost left-back Richie Byrne to injury before sharing a relatively even first half in which Leicester went closest to scoring.

Neither team hit their stride early on as they paid the price for surprisingly careless use of possession.

Leicester’s only threat came from midfielder Andy King, who slammed a shot over the bar from 25 yards, and at the other end Lee Hughes did well down the right before the resulting effort from Taylor was blocked.

No real openings were created until the 30th minute when Leicester’s first corner caused confusion in the home defence, allowing big Steve Howard to head on.

The ball fell to Matt Oakley inside the six-yard area, but his goalbound touch went straight at Whitaker, who cleared off the line.

Athletic captain Sean Gregan then stepped out of defence to receive a quickly-taken free-kick which he drilled off target.

The game was opening up and Matty Fryatt beat Gregan for pace after 37 minutes, only for his finish to be pulled wide of the near post.

Leicester soon wasted a golden opportunity as Howard headed against the woodwork and Lloyd Dyer snatched horribly at the rebound, finding the Chaddy End when he should have scored.

Hughes wasted Athletic’s best chance of the half when he nodded wide, while visiting ’keeper David Martin denied Allott from long range: Leicester shading it, honours even.

Athletic felt they restarted at a disadvantage as referee Graham Laws, not unusually, made some controversial decisions — including the one from which Leicester went in front.

The home players were furious after Craig Davies was penalised for a challenge near the corner flag but, once the fuss had died down, Dyer crossed from the right and the unmarked Howard thundered in with his head.

Now Athletic faced a huge task against strong, organised opponents, and they responded superbly as Allott forced Martin to save at full stretch.

Hughes had an effort ruled out for handball, Whitaker’s drive ricocheted behind and new loan signing Brett Ormerod was given time to impress up front.

The busy Ormerod did just that, but it was Whitaker who grabbed the limelight with his exquisite equalising goal.

Though he had plenty to do when Taylor fed him 22 yards out, Whitaker stayed cool under pressure, took a touch and bent his left-foot shot into the top corner with inch-perfect accuracy.

Athletic almost added a second when Jones skimmed the bar, and their desire to keep pushing forward was a heart-warming sight for the biggest home crowd of the season.

It was end-to-end and Leicester’s Max Gradel might have done better on the break, but both sides deserved their reward.


Sheridan hails Danny’s ‘great strike’

ATHLETIC manager John Sheridan wasn’t surprised to see Danny Whitaker produce a moment of magic against Leicester City.

Whitaker rescued a point with his fourth goal in the last 11 games as the Boundary Park side again fought back from behind.

Sheridan said: “I know what Danny is all about because he gets forward, scores goals and he’s calm in those situations.

“It was a great strike with his weak foot, but he’s an excellent finisher and he does that in training all the time.

“That’s what Danny is good at, so I expect him to score goals from midfield — he has always done it in this division.

“We could have gone on from there and scored again because you could see we were trying to win the game, but I’m pleased with a point.

“We’ve performed better and opened teams up more but, considering who we were playing, we showed we could live with the best team we’ve played this season.

“In the second half we came out strong. There’s a lot to learn and a long way to go, but if we play like that every week we’ll win lots of games.

“Obviously I wanted three points, but both sides showed effort and commitment and, for me, they were two decent teams.

“Leicester are the best we’ve played, but we showed a lot of character after going 1-0 down and we matched them in all areas.

“There probably weren’t many chances, but there was energy, decent play and as the away team Leicester will be more pleased with the point.

“The disappointing thing was their goal. The lads weren’t happy about the free-kick, but if you touch anybody nowadays the whistle blows — I’m more disappointed that we gave the lad (Steve Howard) a free header.

“At the end of the day we came back well, and I hope we’ll get a bit of credit for being as good as a team who will definitely be right up there.

“The league is going to be very close, but this was a difficult test and it should give everybody confidence.”

Leicester manager Nigel Pearson said: “There’s disappointment in the dressing room, but give Oldham credit because they played well and asked a lot of questions.

“Unfortunately we didn’t take our chances, but it was a stuttering performance and it was resilience which got us the draw.”