Penney handed double tonic

DALE Stephens (right) and Jim Goodwin are expected to return from injury against Brentford tomorrow night.

ATHLETIC are set to be at full strength for their game against Brentford at Boundary Park tomorrow night — a fixture which carries a huge amount of significance.

Dale Stephens (hip and groin) and Jim Goodwin (thigh) are in training and should land places in boss Dave Penney’s matchday squad.

The fight against relegation was boosted by results at the weekend. With Athletic not in action due to Southampton’s presence in yesterday’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final against Carlisle (see Page 34) at Wembley, all eyes were on their rivals towards the bottom of the Coca-Cola League One table.

Only Exeter of those sides in danger of the drop picked up a win, defeating Walsall 2-1 at home.

And it leaves the door open for Athletic to deal their rivals — most of whom have played two games more — a huge blow tomorrow.

Currently 19th in the table, Penney’s men would rise three places with a win over Brentford, creating valuable breathing space with another home match against Gillingham to follow on Saturday.

Athletic missed out on getting in a new forward before last week’s deadline for emergency loans.

The club revealed that they made a renewed bid to bring in Fabien Brandy from Manchester United before the window closed.

The move failed due to what were described as “excessive” demands by the player’s agent, after the two clubs had a agreed a deal which would have seen Athletic pay the 21-year-old’s wages and appearance money.

The fee the agent was seeking was deemed too large for a short loan period.

Athletic also said that an earlier swoop for Ply-mouth’s Bradley Wright-Phillips was foiled due to injuries at Argyle.

The club had set up a loan move for the former Manchester City youngster before the game at home to Wycombe on March 13, but the player was called back up to the first team and has since scored two goals in five games.

A verdict on the fitness prospects of Daniel Nard-iello is expected today.

The Blackpool striker is back at his parent club having treatment on a hamstring injury and may not remain with Athletic if he is set to be out of contention for more than another week.




A YOUNG Athletic reserves team is in action against Preston at Hyde United tonight (7pm kick-off)



It is the first of two fixtures against North End, with the teams meeting again on Wednesday at Bamber Bridge in the semi-finals of the totesport.com League Cup.