Millar makes instant impact

TOP PROSPECT: Winger Kirk Millar made a promising first-team debut.

BOUNDARY PARK ROUNDUP: A STROKE of fortune led to Kirk Millar’s call-up to the Athletic first-team squad.

The 17-year-old was training as normal with the youth team last Wednesday afternoon when Lee Duxbury whisked him into the reserves side to travel to Morecambe that same night.

The late change was due to the fact that Joe Colbeck was struggling with his ankle injury.

But things worked out just right for first-year scholar Millar, who lives locally in digs.

The Northern Ireland winger, formerly of Linfield, grabbed his chance with both hands.

Coming on after only 15 minutes of the second string’s 2-0 win, Millar scored the second goal with a finish inside the six-yard box five minutes from full-time.

And he impressed watching manager Dave Penney enough to be handed a place on the bench for the first team’s match against Wycombe, making his debut with 17 minutes left on the clock at Boundary Park and with Athletic 2-1 down.

Millar joined up with another exciting youth team prospect, Tom Eaves, to give the home fans a glimpse of the pair’s potentially promising future in the game.

“To give Dave Penney and Martin Gray plenty of credit, it was a brave move to put them on with the team losing,” said youth team boss Tony Philliskirk.

“I thought they both freshened things up, didn’t they? Tom was very strong and did what we have been asking him to do by using his size and presence to good effect in holding the ball up.

“With Kirk, nothing at all fazes him and he was bright and lively.”

Without Eaves, Millar and a host of other players who were instead penned in for the reserves’ game against Accrington on Monday night, a young Athletic youth team battled to a creditable 0-0 home draw with Wigan Athletic on Saturday to leave Philliskirk a happy men.

“It was an excellent result,” he said.

“With the reserves game on Monday night, we had a lot of schoolboys and under-15s in the side.

“And we also had to play much of the second half with only 10 men, as I had made all three substitutions with half an hour left when Jack Laird came off with an arm injury.”

Eaves also appeared at Stockport on Tuesday, replacing Pawel Abbott with nine minutes of the game remaining.