Lewis clincher eases pressure

Photo: Picture by CHRIS SUNDERLAND

OFF THE MARK . . . Lewis Guy celebrates his first - and vital - goal for Athletic.

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Athletic 1, Gillingham 0

Crucial victory over basement rivals gives Latics breathing space

LEWIS Guy’s strike just before the hour was enough to claim a huge three points for Athletic.

The on-loan Doncaster striker produced an assured finish off a clever Dale Stephens pass to slot the ball home, enabling under-pressure manager Dave Penney to breathe a sigh of relief.

The win helped Athletic to 19th in the Coca-Cola League One table ahead of tonight’s game at Huddersfield Town.

It temporarily plunged Gillingham – still without an away win all season – back into the mire, before they bounced back yesterday to record a 3-0 home win against Southend.

It wasn’t particularly pretty from Athletic, who arguably played better in last weeks’ defeat to Brentford.

But ‘winning ugly’ is the name of the game at this stage of the season.

Athletic made two changes, Dean Brill coming back in goal for the ill Darryl Flahavan and Paul Black replacing Kelvin Lomax at full-back.

Penney saw his team start the game slowly, Guy appealing for a penalty he was never going to get after five minutes.

But Gillingham went on to claim most of the first-half territory without really threatening.

Andy Barcham and Rene Howe struck shots straight at Brill, while Athletic had a scare when captain Sean Gregan went down injured but was able to continue.

Stephens forced a fingertip save from Alan Julian and Guy had a volley which found the net but was ruled out for offside.

At the other, end Howe could have done better than flick a header from John Nutter’s free-kick a yard over five minutes before the break.

Danny Whitaker replaced Jon Worthington at half-time and went close to opening the scoring when he curled a right-footed shot three yards wide.

Gillingham then spurned a golden chance when Chris Dickson had a clear run on goal after Gregan had slipped trying to intercept a long ball.

Instead of advancing towards the area, Dickson chose to shoot from 30 yards and sliced his shot horribly wide of Brill’s goal.

Then came Guy’s goal, his first since August, 2008, as he slipped the ball under the body of Julian after an alert pass by Stephens.

From that point, it was relatively plain sailing for Athletic despite a late barrage of crosses from Mark Stimson’s men, while at the other end the ever-dangerous Pawel Abbott went close with a couple of efforts.


On-loan striker has added new dimension — Penney

DAVE Penney believes that Lewis Guy has added an extra dimension to Athletic’s attack.

The striker, on loan from Doncaster, is not renowned for his goalscoring record, having only ever managed 19 league goals from more than 150 career appearances.

His pace is certainly a big asset, though. The 24-year-old, who started his career at Newcastle, won a match-winning penalty on his debut at Stockport thanks to his speed off the mark.

And after failing to find the target with a well-struck shot in the home defeat to Brentford, Guy is finally up and running in an Athletic shirt thanks to a smartly-taken goal against Gillingham.

Notoriously shot-shy Athletic have only failed to hit the target once with Guy in the side, against in-form Brighton, and Penney will hope that the trend continues against Huddersfield at the Galpharm Stadium tonight (7.45pm kick-off).

“Lewis had a good chance the other day and the ’keeper made a great save off him,” said Penney, who signed Guy permanently for the Dons after he impressed in a loan spell in South Yorkshire five seasons ago.

“He is bright and has fetched that energy that we have been lacking up front.

“Him and Pawel Abbott have been a good pairing and we have started to score goals and look a threat.

“So I am delighted for Lewis. He doesn’t get enough goals and he knows that he needs to add that to his game.

“He is always a threat. He won a penalty and got a man sent off at Stockport and was unlucky not to go through one-on-one with the Gillingham ’keeper in the first half.

“We are pleased with Lewis and he has come in and freshened us up.”

Penney is happy that his team have an extra 24 hours to recover from Saturday’s exertions, as opposed to many of Athletic’s relegation rivals who played yesterday.

He also admits that the task will be tough against big-spending Huddersfield, who have lost only once in the league all season on home turf, scoring 43 goals in 19 matches.

“We have little bit more of a breather and it gives us the chance to get the few little niggles we have iced up so the players can get ready to go again,” he added.

“Huddersfield are doing ever so well at home and are in the play-offs at the moment so we know it is going to be a tough trip.

“Every game is worth three points and the only difference is it is bragging rights for the locals.

“So it is important we go there and give a good account of ourselves.”

Town manager Lee Clark enters the cross-Pennine derby boosted by a 2-1 victory at relegation-threatened Wycombe at the weekend.

Jordan Rhodes, son of former Athletic ‘keeper Andy, netted his 21st goal of the season with an acrobatic overhead kick at Adams Park, while fellow front man Theo Robinson registered his second in the last three matches.

Huddersfield, who have taken seven points from nine after a run of three consecutive defeats, are sixth in the League One table and still have an eye on one of the automatic promotion spots as a result of Leeds United’s dramatic recent fall from grace.


Latics’ next Game:

Tonight, Huddersfield (A), Coca-Cola League One