Shez praise for in-form Lomax

KELVIN LOMAX (right) in action

DEFENDER Kelvin Lomax was singled out for praise last night after Athletic completed a hat-trick of League One victories.

The Boundary Park side sealed a late win against Walsall to go fourth in the table, and manager John Sheridan described Lomax (22) as a consistent and elegant performer.

The youth-team graduate played at right-back – again keeping Wales international Neal Eardley out of Athletic’s starting XI.

And Sheridan said: “Kelvin has proved he needs to stay in there because he’s doing so well that I can’t leave him out.

“He’s looking very mature and he’s an intelligent player. He has always known the defensive side of his game needed to improve, and he has worked on it.

“Walsall made it difficult for us, but Kelvin was outstanding – in my eyes he was man of the match.

“I think he’s very elegant, very comfortable on the ball, and I’m pleased for the lad because sometimes in the past I’ve left him out unfairly.

“He isn’t the kind of person to come banging on my door when he isn’t playing. He’s a quiet lad, but I can’t fault him because he’s playing consistently.

“He’s working on things, which he needs to do, and he was outstanding with his defending, positional play and passing.

“I knew it would be close at right-back this season between Kelvin and Neal Eardley, but they are good mates and I want them to push each other on.

“Neal has kept coming in and training very well. He’ll get his chance somewhere along the line, but I think Kelvin will have a decent run.”

Due to their exit from the FA Cup, Athletic are now out of action until a week on Saturday when they meet Brighton at Boundary Park.

The first team have been given two days’ rest after a busy spell of fixtures, although some of Athletic’s fringe players were involved in a private friendly against Huddersfield today.

It’s expected that Sheridan will have a fully-fit squad when Athletic resume their league campaign as Deane Smalley is recovering from a hip complaint and Danny Whitaker is back from his ankle injury.

Lewis Alessandra was ruled out of last night’s game after going down with a viral infection.