Goodwin sets sights on an away-day shock
Reporter: MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date published: 08 February 2010
CONFIDENT: Jim Goodwin reckons Athletic can get something from tomorrow’s trip to Swindon.
JIM GOODWIN believes Athletic can cause an upset at Swindon tomorrow night.
Following a hard-fought and vital 1-0 away-day win at Tranmere, the on-loan Huddersfield Town player says the pressure is off for the long trek to face the play-off contenders.
Athletic, now out of the Coca-Cola League One relegation zone, have picked up more points — 15, including four wins — away from home than at Boundary Park and Goodwin hopes that the positive trend continues tomorrow.
“Swindon are flying high and going terrifically well, but the onus is on them as they are expected to do well,” said the right-back, who put in a typically uncompromising shift at Prenton Park for boss Dave Penney.
“There is no pressure on us whatsoever as everyone expects us to get turned over.
“But if we can put in a performance down there similar to what we showed at Tranmere in the first half, maintaining that for 90 minutes, I have no doubt we will come away with something.
“You never know. Bottom teams beat top teams in this division all the time and hopefully we can pull off a shock.”
A last-minute Charlton equaliser from Nicky Bailey denied Swindon a 1-0 victory at the County Ground on Saturday as the Robins slipped a place to sixth in the table.
Athletic are now up to 19th by virtue of the three points at Tranmere and, with games in hand on all their near-rivals, they are starting to glance up, rather than down, the table.
“It was one of those games that really was a six-pointer for us,” added Goodwin of the Rovers win.
“We couldn’t afford to let Tranmere get any more points on us and I thought we stuck in there and pulled off a great result.
“We worked hard on set pieces all through the week. The gaffer brought in some extra height to the team and it was a great corner from Dale (Stephens) and an excellent finish from Pawel (Abbott).”
o THE postponed home game against Brentford will now be played on Tuesday, March 30 (7.45pm kick-off).
