Pain game for key Latics duo

Pawel Abbott: Battling on with an injury.

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

CHRIS TAYLOR and Pawel Abbott are playing through the pain barrier to try to help improve the fortunes of bottom-four club Athletic.

Manager Dave Penney has revealed that, but for Athletic’s injury crisis, both players would not be lining up tomorrow against Carlisle as they look for a long-awaited home victory.

Taylor is still having a series of injections to try to cure a pelvic-muscle problem which has troubled him throughout the campaign.

The Athletic boss has also disclosed that Abbott has been carrying a groin strain for several weeks.

Penney said: “It is fair play to Chris and Pawel who are both playing with injuries and not able to train for the full week.

“Chris is having a course of injections on Mondays and it doesn’t settle down until Thursday when he can start training.

“In an ideal world we would like to leave them out, but we are short of bodies and they are playing with injuries.”

Andy Holdsworth is a major doubt for tomorrow after receiving a painful kick to his knee in Saturday’s defeat at Bristol Rovers. Kelvin Lomax is on stand-by to replace him at right-back.

And on-loan Alex Marrow is also a worry after he missed training yesterday through illness.

Midfield man Jon Worthington will again be missing. His ankle was examined under anaesthetic on Tuesday and he was given an injection at the same time.

Penney says he hopes Worthington will be able to resume training with physio Marc Czuczman next week.

The manager reckons he is not too worried by Athletic’s lowly league position, saying: “It would be worse if we weren’t playing well, weren’t making chances and weren’t in games. Nobody has battered us, not even Hartlepool when you look at the chances we missed and the ones they took.

“It is a fine line between success and failure. We are not a million miles away, but we need to get closer - and a win against Carlisle would set us on the way.”



ATHLETIC (probable squad): Brill, Holdsworth, Lomax, Sheehan, Hazell, Gregan, Colbeck, Marrow, Furman, Whitaker, Lee, Taylor, Abbott, Blackman, Parker, Ollerenshaw, Bembo-Leta, Tischler, Kalnoki-Kis.

Carlisle could recall on-loan Chelsea midfield man Tom Taiwo who has recovered from an Achilles tendon injury. He was on the bench last Saturday.

Kevan Hurst has recovered from the knee injury sustained in that match, a home defeat against Brighton.