Five-star Eaves boosts claims
Reporter: MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date published: 15 April 2010
Tom Eaves (right): Scored five times for the reserves.
TOM EAVES slammed home FIVE goals in a reserve-team hammering of Blackpool to give manager Dave Penney a first-hand look at his striking prowess.
The giant 18-year-old striker ran riot against a youthful Seasiders outfit at Bloomfield Road in an 8-2 totesport.com league victory — and his fellow young strike partner Ryan Brooke claimed a hat-trick to boot in front of the watching first-team manager.
With Athletic’s first team having struggled for goals this season — the away game at MK Dons in midweek represented the 19th occasion the team has failed to register in Coca-Cola League One — Penney will want to give Eaves a starting role before the season is up.
But it could be that Athletic will need to first reach the relative safety of 50 points.
With Pawel Abbott currently the team’s main goal hope, the youngster has so far been restricted to cameo roles as substitute.
All 10 of his appearances so far have been from the bench and Eaves has yet to register a first senior goal, coming closest when crashing a left-footed shot against the underside of the bar against Brighton after Abbott’s penalty was saved by Peter Brezovan.
Brooke has made 13 appearances in the league, including just one start, and scored a single goal which rescued a point for Athletic in a 2-2 home draw against Colchester United.
Eaves set up one of Brooke’s goals against a young Blackpool outfit, with Lee Duxbury’s men storming out of the blocks to take a 6-1 advantage into the half-time break.
Other first-team men to be given run-outs last night were Jon Worthington, Kelvin Lomax, Hasney Aljofree and Lewis Alessandra.
Meanwhile, relegation-threatened Southend have been given a seven-day stay of execution over an unpaid tax bill.
The Shrimpers faced a winding-up order in the High Court over a debt of around £400,000, having already paid £2.1million last November.
The club has been given a lifeline after telling the court they plan to transfer the money across in the next few days.
