Still striving to strike a balance

Photo: pictures by MAX FLEGO

Lee Hughes — a top league scorer. But his Latics colleagues struggle to score in his wake

TONY BUGBY’S weekly look behind the scenes at Boundary Park

WHILE Lee Hughes features among the leading marksmen in Coca-Cola League One, Athletic have struggled to find the 32-year-old hit man a prolific strike partner.

Indeed, the recent arrival of loan-signing Steven Kabba from Watford means Athletic have, remarkably, used a total of 10 strikers in the current campaign.

And is is a measure of how heavily Athletic have relied on the 32-year-old Hughes, that the nine other strikers have managed a meagre 10 goals between them.

When you consider three of forward Deane Smalley’s four goals have come from playing out wide, only seven goals have come from strikers other than Hughes.

Hughes admitted: “I have never had so many different strikers playing alongside me in one season, but it is something you have to get used to.

“I have usually had a regular strike partner and it does help. At West Brom it was Bob Taylor and Jason Roberts and when that happens you get to know how each other plays.

“When you keep getting a new partner, it takes time to get to know how they play and to gel. To be fair I have found it difficult.

“All the strikers I have played alongside this season have been decent players and good in their own way, but they have all been different in their styles and it does take time to get used to how each of them plays.

“That is not down to me but circumstances at the club and all I can do is to go out and play my normal game.”

The most fruitful partnership of his career was with Roberts at West Brom when in one season he scored 24 and Roberts 17.

Hughes added that given the constant swopping and changing alongside him, he is satisfied with his return of 17 goals in 37 appearances and he remains on course to achieve his target of 20 for the campaign.

And Hughes also pointed out that he considers the quality of service to the front players as being possibly more important than who he plays alongside.

Hughes’s striker partners have been:

CHRIS O’GRADY (15 apps, 0 goals): The striker was signed from Rotherham United for an undisclosed sum - thought to be £30,000 - last summer but he quickly fell out of favour with manager John Sheridan and has since been loaned to Bury, Bradford and Stockport.

CRAIG DAVIES (14 apps, 0 goals): Last season’s 14-goal leading marksman was sold to Brighton for a six-figure sum during the January transfer window having seen his fortunes take a spectacular nosedive. He was needlessly sent off in the Carling Cup at Rochdale in August which infuriated Sheridan who banished him to Stockport for a three-month loan before he was sold.

LEWIS ALESSANDRA (29 apps, 4 goals): Most appearances have been as a substitute. He scored a brilliant hat trick in the 3-0 win against play-off rivals Scunthorpe in October, but so far has been unable to reproduce that form and take his game to the next level, though he has the ability and potential to go far.

DEANE SMALLEY (31 apps, 4 goals): Most of his appearances have been on the flanks, but he has also operated down the middle alongside Hughes and since regaining a regular place in the team two months ago he has been one of the side’s most consistent performers.

BRETT ORMEROD (5 apps, 0 goals): A player with a proven goalscoring record, but who failed to replicate that during a loan spell for Athletic, though in fairness he arrived from Preston having not played any competitive football for seven months. His temporary move was cut short by a broken toe.

DARREN BYFIELD (8 apps, 1 goal): The much-travelled Byfield spent two months on loan from Doncaster Rovers and, while a skilful and gifted player, he only managed to find the net once which was a disappointing return for a striker.

MATTY WOLFENDEN (1 apps, 0 goal): The home-produced youngster’s campaign has been beset by a succession of injuries which have restricted him to only one substitute appearance.

DEAN WINDASS (11 apps, 1 goal): The on-loan striker has sadly made more off-the-field headlines than on the pitch where he has yet to blaze a goal trail. The 39-year-old’s one goal for Latics was significant, however, as it was his 200th in the league.

STEVEN KABBA (3 apps, 0 goals): The most recent acquisition and the 10th striker to appear for Athletic this season. Signed on loan from Championship club Watford for the remainder of the campaign, Kabba has yet to get off the mark for the Boundary Park club.