Athletic fail in Price loan bid

HOT-AIR blowers get to work to help thaw out the Boundary Park pitch.

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ATHLETIC won’t have Jason Price in their line-up against Leyton Orient tonight.

The 32-year-old striker has returned to his parent club Millwall after his loan was not renewed, despite Athletic being keen to get him back on board for a further month.

The sticking point is believed to be at the Millwall end, with the Lions currently experiencing a shortage up front due to injuries to Gary Alexander and Neil Harris.

It means that Athletic officials will turn their attentions elsewhere in a bid to bring an alternative attacking player, who could go straight into the team for a game at Boundary Park that has been described as “massive” by Dave Penney.

“It was a good point when you look at it down at Exeter but we have two games now coming up and it is important we pick up as many points as we can,” said the Athletic manager, who has another home match on Saturday against Wycombe Wanderers.

“We need to keep Southend and Exeter — who play each other on Saturday — below us.

“In general we have been playing quite well at home. Millwall, Norwich and Walsall were all decent performances and it is a matter of turning those performances into goals.

“It was nice to see us get a goal from a set piece at Exeter and a goal from a different area that takes some of the pressure off the strikers if they are not scoring.”

Athletic head into the Coca-Cola League One clash in search of their first double of the season, following the 2-1 win at Brisbane Road on the second week of the season in which Pawel Abbott scored twice.

That game remains the only occasion on which an Athletic man has hit the net more than once in a match in 2009-10.

Penney is without Keigan Parker (groin strain) and Alex Marrow (illness) tonight after both men missed the Exeter trip. Both players should be back it time for the weekend.

Athletic (from): Brill, Lee, Hazell, Gregan, Jacobson, Colbeck, Furman, Stephens, Taylor, Abbott, Nardiello, Whitaker, Colbeck,Smalley, Flahavan, Aljofree, Black, Worthington, Goodwin, Brooke, Eaves.

Orient arrive at Boundary Park on the back of a six-game winless run.

They currently lie 16th in the table, five points clear of Athletic but having played two matches more.