Red card turns the tide for Latics

Photo: Tom Pickles

FETCH THAT BALL: Chris Taylor pulls a goal back from the penalty spot to kick-start Athletic’s revival against Colchester United.

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Athetic 2, Colchester 2

IT only takes a second to score a goal, the well-worn saying goes.

Brian Clough coined it. He wasn’t a man who had too much difficulty directing the spherical object into the netted area during his playing days, managing it 251 times in 274 matches before his career was cut short through injury.

Athletic have found scoring to be far more of a chore than the late, great Clough ever did.

A second? Try five hours and 42 minutes.

Between Reuben Hazell’s late strike at Brighton a month ago and Chris Taylor’s well-struck penalty here — a period in which top scorer Pawel Abbott, not without coincidence, has been in and out of hospital due to hernia surgery — Dave Penney’s side have struggled badly for goals.

Successive defeats against Huddersfield, Leeds and Gillingham came and went without Athletic fans able to cheer a single strike for their side.

To go two goals down at home to Colchester, then, seemed to indicate that this would be another fruitless afternoon in Coca-Cola League One.

Especially against visitors so physically intimidating half the team looked like it could hack it on the mean, hard courts of the NBA.

Then came the most crucial incident of a very entertaining afternoon’s football.

Former Athletic left-back Marc Tierney had already been booked when, in the 56th minute, he flicked the ball away into touch a second or two after referee Eddie Ilderton had blown up for a foul.

Off he trotted, leaving Aidy Boothroyd’s men to play more than half an hour a man down.

And Athletic used their numerical advantage superbly.

With Danny Whitaker pulling the strings in the centre, stretching the United defence with some precise passing, the home side — never outclassed or outfought in the game — began to exert real pressure on the Colchester rearguard.

Only seven minutes after Tierny’s dismissal, Athletic were finally able to celebrate a goal. Andy Holdsworth worked his way past the beleaguered John White on the right, cut inside and pulled back to Taylor on the penalty spot.

Getting a touch to the ball fractionally in front of giant U’s centre-back Magnus Okuonghae, the Athletic player was felled to earn his team a spot-kick.

Which he then dispatched — despite goalkeeper Ben Williams getting a hand to it as the ball flew to his right.

Game on. From that point, the visitors abandoned all attacking notions and it was simply a case of trying to keep rampant Athletic at bay.

Joe Colbeck, impressive on the left, smashed a shot narrowly over from 30 yards out, Holdsworth fired a ball across the six-yard line that nobody could get a touch to and substitute Ryan Brooke poked instinctively wide off Nick Blackman’s knock-down.

Brooke also produced a fine save from Williams off a Keigan Parker corner that had already drifted out of play. But the 19-year-old’s decisive moment arrived two minutes from time.

After putting cross after quality cross into the box, Parker’s sterling efforts paid off when Brooke stooped low to direct a header into the roof of the net from close range.

It meant Athletic picked up a well-earned point — but it could have been three, had Whitaker’s header off another Parker centre not been well claimed low to his left by Williams with a minute to go.

An open start to the game saw half-chances fall to both sides. First Colchester custodian Williams flapped at a Lee Hills cross, Taylor hitting a deflected shot over as the ball fell to his feet, before Colbeck produced an excellent saving challenge on Anthony Wordsworth as the winger bore down on goal from Clive Platt’s through ball.

Platt then failed to connect properly with a free header from White’s cross and John-Joe O’Toole had a shot deflected wide.

From the resulting corner, Athletic failed to clear their lines and the ball pinged around before falling to midfielder David Fox, who squeezed a left foot shot inside the near post and through ‘keeper Darryl Flahavan’s legs for the opening goal after 12 minutes.

O’Toole and Kayode Odejayi both went very close with headed efforts as the visitors continued to look sharp in attack.

Athletic’s best first-half chance fell to Deane Smalley. Four minutes before the interval, Tierney was booked for a foul on the Athletic right winger and when Whitaker’s cross fell to him in the centre of the penalty area, he could only fire a deflected shot over the bar.

The second half could hardly have started any worse for Penney. Colbeck was harshly punished for a good challenge on Kevin Lisbie and from Wordsworth’s inswinging free-kick, on-loan Barnsley striker Odejayi extended his neck muscles to head across Flahavan for a seventh goal in 11 appearances for the U’s.

To their credit, Athletic weren’t cowed by the setback. Smalley forced a fingertip save with a deflected shot and even before the Tierney dismissal, the home team were pressing hard for a goal to halve the deficit.

Then came Taylor’s intervention and Brooke’s equaliser, leaving the world slightly, but significantly, brighter for Athletic fans.




Stirring response delights Penney

DAVE Penney praised the character of his side after Athletic came from two goals down to claim a point against Colchester.

In front of the 3,607 fans — the lowest home league crowd of the season, a legacy of three successive defeats without scoring — Penney’s men produced a stirring second-half effort to secure a draw thanks to a penalty from Chris Taylor and a header from substitute Ryan Brooke two minutes from time.

“From 2-0 down you have to be happy, playing against a team that is flying high,” said Penney, who admitted his side were helped by the 56th-minute red card for former Athletic full-back Marc Tierney.

“They were third in the league before the game so to lose two goals and get something out of the game is pleasing.

“With the amount of shots and crosses we had towards the end, you would hope you could get a third goal.

“But the players were different class. They passed it when we needed to pass it — there’s no point just throwing it into the box as they have two giants (centre-backs Danny Batth and Magnus Okuonghae) — so we made sure we got round the sides of them and to the byline to put the balls in.

“And that is how we got our goals.”

Athletic’s scoring drought prompted the manager to thrust Chris Taylor into a more central attacking role alongside Nick Blackman, with Joe Colbeck and Deane Smalley charged with providing the ammunition from out wide.

Penney’s side were a study in patience throughout and even at 2-0 down weren’t inferior to Colchester. Tierney’s dismissal then sparked a fierce bombardment of the visitors’ goal and in the final analysis, Athletic may even be slightly disappointed not to have picked up an unlikely three points.

“We tried to do something different to get goals,” Penney said.

“There is no point just sticking two big lads up there so we told Chris or Nick to come into the ‘hole’ to cause them problems and they did that.

“I thought the subs were excellent when they came on. Keigan (Parker) did ever so well and Ryan Brooke came in and was a threat.

“The character of the players was the main thing. We had three losses before today without scoring a goal so to score twice and come back for a draw was excellent.”


Coca–Cola League One results:

Brentford 1 Walsall 1, Brighton 0 Leeds 3, Bristol Rovers 2 Gillingham 1, Carlisle 0 Swindon 1, Huddersfield 2 Hartlepool 1, Leyton Orient 2 Tranmere 1, Millwall 0 Wycombe 2, Oldham 2 Colchester 2, Southampton 2 Norwich 2, Stockport 1 Exeter 3, Yeovil 1 Charlton 1, Southend 2 Milton Keynes Dons 1.