Latics round up

A NASTY injury to exciting winger Kirk Millar put a dampener on a positive result for Athletic's youth team at Blackpool.

Tony Philliskirk's side won the game 2-0, despite starting with only four of the side which played in the midweek FA Youth Cup defeat of Stalybridge Celtic. Andrew Crompton and Nick Zaicevs were on target.

But an ankle problem sustained by Belfast-born Millar is a concern for Philliskirk, particularly with the next round of the Youth Cup, a home tie with Rochdale at Boundary Park, just around the corner.

Whoever wins that game has the prize of an away trip to Aston Villa in the third round, but Millar seems set to miss out in the event of his side making it there.

"It looks like Kirk has injured his ankle ligaments and will need a scan," said Philliskirk, Athletic's youth team boss.

"At the moment it looks doubtful that he will play again before Christmas which comes as a big blow to us."

The game itself was a scrappy affair, not helped by strong winds.

Crompton opened the scoring for the visitors midway through the first half with a header from Will McCall's cross.

In the second half, Blackpool came right back into the game and exerted plenty of pressure before Zaicevs made sure of the points 10 minutes from the end with his first goal for Athletic.

FORMER Athletic striker Chris Killen is set to play in next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.

His New Zealand side qualified for the finals for only the second time thanks to a 1-0 home play-off win against Bahrain at the weekend, emulating the achievement of the class of 1982.

Killen, now 28 and on the fringes of Celtic's first team in Scotland, started for the All Whites in front of 35,000 supporters at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

A header by Killen's strike partner Rory Fallon, who plays his club football for for Plymouth, settled the tie.

And home goalkeeper Mark Paston saved a second-half penalty from Sayed Mohamed Adnan to preserve New Zealand’s precious lead.

Current Athletic star Dean Furman is hopeful of representing host nation South Africa in the finals.

The Cape Town-born player has yet to win a cap for his country, but was an unused substitute in a friendly against Australia in August of last year.




OLDHAM Athletic Community Trust is to open its doors to families before Saturday’s home game against Colchester.

Staff from the Trust, Oldham College and Laticzone will be on hand to oversee a range of educational activities in the state of the art facility at Boundary Park.

Numbers are limited and match tickets must be shown on entrance. The event starts at 1pm.

For further information, contact Anthony Barlow on (0161) 678 8464.




ATHLETIC'S home FA Cup tie against Leeds United attracted a record number of Internet viewers.

Streamed live on TheFA.com, the game achieved over 176,000 plays on Saturday evening, which is believed to be a new high mark for an online, free-to-view competitive match in the UK.

It is also said to rank as one of the top five live web sports events in UK history.