Abbott raring to go

ITCHING to get back: Pawel Abbott’s return to full fitness has been held up by the recent spell of cold weather.

PAWEL Abbott is working hard to make up for lost time.

The striker, who hasn’t started a game for Athletic since the start of November last year, is still well clear at the head of the scoring charts at the club with seven goals.

The last of the 27-year-old’s strikes came when he made a long-awaited return as a substitute against Hartlepool on January 2, but since then his progress in recovering full match fitness has stalled due to snow and frost-covered pitches.

It remains to be seen whether boss Dave Penney will throw him in from the start for the crucial home game against Tranmere tomorrow night, but Abbott admits the lack of games lately hasn’t helped his progress.

“I am on the way back now and it is just a pity we haven’t been able to train on grass too much,” said the former Huddersfield Town and Darlington man.

“There is only so much fitness work you can do in the gym and on treadmills. Getting on the grass and playing in games is the best way of getting your fitness back.

“So I am just lacking match fitness.

“We had a practice match (on Sunday) on a big pitch and I could feel how unfit I am.

“It has been two months now since I last started a game.

“We planned the surgery for before the FA Cup game (at home to Leeds) so that I missed one or maybe two league games. But obviously it didn’t pan out like that and there were a few complications.

“I would have been back much quicker but for not being able to train on grass, though. It could have been some time in December.”

Abbott, who helped spark a stirring but ultimately fruitless comeback away at 10-man Hartlepool with his 88th-minute header after coming off the bench, wants his team-mates to display similar attacking intent from the start against a Tranmere side third-bottom of League One but now only four points behind Athletic.

“Hopefully we can start doing that from the beginning of games, showing the same urgency rather than waiting for the opposition to go a man down or for something to happen for us,” Abbott added.


CHIEF scout Graham Brown has left Athletic to link up with former manager Ronnie Moore at League Two outfit Rotherham.

Mansfield-based Brown, who had been with Athletic for five years, served under Moore, John Sheridan and Dave Penney.


ATHLETIC’S postponed game at Stockport County has been rearranged to take place on Tuesday, February 2, at Edgeley Park (7.45pm kick-off).