Smalley’s big role in battle to beat drop

FIRST BLOOD: Lewis Guy puts Athletic in front with a smart side-foot finish

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Athletic 2, Bristol Rovers 1 

THIS was a game neither team could afford to draw.

Athletic, who can’t start to relax just yet, managed to pick up three points for the second successive occasion at Boundary Park thanks to Deane Smalley’s winner two minutes from full-time.

It came after Jo Koffour had levelled with only 13 minutes left following Lewis Guy’s opener.

And the final result — a deserved victory, on the balance of play — took Dave Penney’s side up to the relative safety of 16th spot in Coca-Cola League One and with a game in hand on most sides in the near-vicinity.

It also banged another nail in the coffin for the Pirates’ own hopes of making the play-offs at the other end of the division — which goes some way to explaining the excitement of the latter stages of the second half, as the visitors committed men forward looking for a winning goal of their own.

When it arrived, Athletic’s second owed much to the persistence of Danny Whitaker. Chasing a ball down to the depths of the left corner, the midfielder seemed to be left with nowhere to go.

But he turned and manufactured just about enough room to dig out a right-foot cross and send it arcing towards the far post.

With a huddle of players from both sides competing in the air, substitute Smalley rose highest to nod home his third of the season from close range, to the delight of most of the 3,769 fans in attendance.

Nobody seems sure exactly how many points Athletic need to be sure of avoiding the drop.

If 50 is the watermark, then one win and a draw from the last six fixtures of the season will suffice.

With a triumph over Gillingham the previous week, a highly creditable performance in defeat at Huddersfield Town last Tuesday and a victory over aspirational opposition here, the picture suddenly looks a lot more rosy for Penney in terms of avoiding the trapdoor to League Two.

Athletic started the game with two changes to the side that lost 2-0 at Huddersfield, Alex Marrow coming in at right-back for the suspended Kieran Lee and Joe Colbeck replacing Dean Furman in a straight 4-4-2 formation.

First-half chances were at a premium and though Bristol Rovers enjoyed the majority of possession to pen Athletic back, their only real opportunity arrived after 18 minutes.

Stuart Campbell swung in a free-kick from the right wing and Kuffour, in acres of room inside the penalty area as the home defence switched off, failed to get enough on his header which drifted harmlessly wide.

Prior to that Dale Stephens stung the palms of goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen with a well-struck 30-yard free-kick.

And Penney’s men almost went ahead when Pawel Abbott pounced as a ball looped up in the air. The striker attacked the ball to produce a header, only for Andersen to push the ball around the post.

The other main talking point of the opening period was an injury to Chris Taylor. The Athletic winger was the victim of a heavy challenge for which Chris Lines was booked inside the first 10 minutes.

Though Taylor came out early for the second half in a bid to run it off, he was unsuccessful, and Smalley took up a position on the right wing with Colbeck switching to the left.

Athletic emerged from their first-half slumber to produce a much more energetic display after the break.

It took only three minutes to find a breakthrough. Paul Black delicately drove a chipped cross towards the back post from deep and Guy was lurking to angle a side-footed volley back across Andersen and into the far corner.

Abbott could — and possibly should — have doubled the lead three minutes later when he got on the end of Sean Gregan’s long ball.

In behind the defence, Abbott didn’t quite bring the ball down under his control and mis-kicked his left-foot shot into the turf to make Andersen’s task an easy one.

Guy then went down under a challenge from centre-back Steve Elliott — booked for a crude lunge by Colbeck just before half-time — and the Rovers man was lucky to stay on the field as referee Mark Halsey showed leniency.

Athletic had another chance before the hour and it fell to Colbeck. Alone at the far post, he controlled Guy’s clever ball and hit a fierce shot against the outside of the woodwork.

The visitors, committing numbers to their attack, got back into it and would have equalised but for Black’s foot deflecting behind a Danny Coles header from a corner.

And their goal, when it came, was well-constructed.

Jeff Hughes slipped in substitute Andy Williams down the left side of the area and his low cross was side-footed home by Kuffour for a strike which could easily have knocked the stuffing out of the home side.

That wasn’t the case. With five minutes left substitute Tom Eaves came close when his far-post header drifted a yard or two off target, and soon after that Smalley was celebrating his third goal of the season.

The visitors continued to press forward the after Kuffour wriggled through both Gregan and Reuben Hazell, Athletic ’keeper Darryl Flahavan had to be alert to block his goal-bound shot.




Penney delighted by show of spirit



DAVE Penney paid tribute to the heart his side showed in picking three points up against the odds.



When Jo Kuffour equalised Lewis Guy’s volleyed opening goal with 13 minutes of the game remaining, Bristol Rovers looked set to escape Boundary Park with a draw.

But substitute Deane Smalley rose highest at the far post to nod home from Danny Whitaker’s cross, giving Athletic a vital three points in the battle against relegation from League One.

“We were delighted with the performance on Tuesday and could quite easily have won that game,” said Penney, making reference to the excellent effort in an unlucky 2-0 defeat at Hudders-field Town.

“The camp were buoyant really, even though we were beaten.

“The performance here wasn’t as good, but we ground out the result and we will take that every day of the week.

“We looked a little bit jaded. We had a tough game with 10 men on Tuesday and there was no real tempo.

“We came back out in the second half and upped it, got a great goal which spurred us on.

“You have to give the players great credit to go out and get a winner which we needed, that is for sure.

“They showed some bottle and some character and stood up to the test.”

Penney also saluted his two goal scorers on the day, who helped Athletic up to 16th place in the table and established a five-point cushion between themselves and the bottom four.

“We had a similar one at Huddersfield, where Tom Eaves had a chance,” Penney added.

“With a little more quality and experience Lewis managed to finish it very well.

“Since he has come here he has been a real threat for us, so we are delighted with what Lewis is doing at the moment.

“With Deane (Smalley) we gave him a little bit of a reality check. We left him out for a couple of games and that was how he reacted.

“He came on in the second half, caused them problems and got the winning goal for us.

“It was important we got a result, because if we had got beaten then the doom and gloom merchants come out.

“It would have been quite easy to crumble when the atmosphere goes a bit, and a few people start to whinge and moan.

“So fair credit to the players — it (Boundary Park) isn’t an easy place to play at the moment.”

Penney also refused to get drawn into a debate as to exactly how many points Athletic need to get to in order to be sure of playing in League One next season.

“I don’t think 46 is enough to keep us up so we will go to MK Dons looking to get three points,” he said.

“We have got some distance now between us and the bottom four so we will look to extend that gap.

“I have never set a points target and won’t start doing that now.”