Latics duo in fitness tonic

HIGH-FLYING Athletic are set for a big double boost ahead of the tricky trip to Peterborough United.

Centre-back Reuben Hazell and right-sided midfielder Ritchie Jones are both set to make first-team comebacks for the clash at London Road, which pits Athletic — now in third place in npower League One — against the team residing one spot below in fourth.

Jones has missed the last two games with a pulled hamstring, while captain Hazell, such a steadying influence at the back, failed to recover from a thigh strain picked up in the midweek Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat to Shrewsbury.

Paul Dickov came off the bench to make his first appearance for Athletic late in the 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers.

And though his side responded to going a goal down with a performance containing plenty of gusto, Dickov won’t want a repeat of the defensive woes which marred the early parts of the game for the home team at Boundary Park.

“Reuben and Ritchie should be fit for next week,” said Dickov, whose side gained a point thanks to a well-taken Chris Taylor goal shortly before half-time.

“They were touch and go for this game, but what is the point in playing them if it means they will be out for another five or six weeks?”

More than eight minutes of additional time were piled on by referee Geoff Eltringham at the end of the second half, in addition to three in the first, as Athletic sought to find a late winner against 10-man Rovers.

Dickov, though, felt it should have been even more as a result of the visitors’ time-wasting tactics.


WARREN Feeney was celebrating after helping Northern Ireland to an excellent 1-0 win away in Slovenia. The hard-working Athletic striker played the full game in Maribor. Athletic’s 18-year-old winger Kirk Millar was a second-half substitute in Northern Ireland under-21s’ 4-0 home defeat of San Marino.