Problems pile up for Penney

DAVE PENNEY: Limited resources.

ATHLETIC boss Dave Penney said his side were well up against it even before kick-off against Leeds United last night.

They were missing Reuben Hazell (calf) and Andy Holdsworth (tendonitis) from the line-up put out against Walsall last week, as well as Chris Taylor (hamstring) plus the host of long-term injured parties.

Paul Black made his first start under Penney as a left-back replacement for the suspended Lee Hills,

Alex Marrow, back after illness, took up a berth in the centre of defence with Kelvin Lomax at right-back, Keigan Parker played in right midfield and there was a debut for on-loan striker Paul Heffernan who played up front with Deane Smalley.

The changes didn’t do Athletic any favours as far as the manager was concerned, his team going down to a fourth home league defeat of the season which leaves them only four points off the League One drop zone.

“We haven’t got the resources that other sides have got and if we are missing people through injuries, as we are at the moment, then we are limited as to what we can do,” said Penney, who admitted his side didn’t give new boy Heffernan the kind of service he thrives on.

“The players were excellent today. Paul Black came in for his debut under me and was very good at left-back, we switched Alex to centre-half from midfield which he has played before in Blackburn’s reserves.

“We had to mix and match, chop and change. We were missing big players like Chris Taylor, Jon Worthington and Pawel Abbott so we just need to get through this sticky patch.

“We were playing a top side and with the players we had missing, combined with the players coming in and those playing out of position, I think it was a decent performance.”

Penney also admitted things could have been different had Athletic taken one of two good opportunities to score in the first half, with table-topping Leeds starting slowly.

“We had two really decent chances in the first 20 minutes when Joe Colbeck put two decent balls in and Dean Furman and Deane Smalley had to hit the target,” said Penney.

“It is fine lines and if you are going to take something out of the game you have to take those chances.”

Marrow picked up his fifth booking of the season last night and earns a one-game suspension, meaning he is ruled out of Saturday’s trip to Carrow Road to take on high-flying Norwich City.