The great giveaway

Photo: Alan Howarth

AND THAT MAKES TWO . . . Chris Taylor celebrates scoring Athletic’s second goal, but there was no happy ending.

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Peterborough 5, Athletic 2

IT IS as painful to type this as it is to hear it uttered by managers in post-match interviews

But as it turns out, the evidence at London Road proves that there is truth in the old cliché.

Yes: 2-0 really can be a ‘dangerous score’.

Athletic were sailing along quite happily in this npower League One clash against a nervy and off-kilter Peterborough side.

A pair of attractive headed goals from wide men Ritchie Jones and Chris Taylor would have as good as put the game to bed against most sides in the division.

Unfortunately for Athletic manager Paul Dickov, the home team then went about proving that they are not most sides in the division.

Defensive calamities at regular intervals helped Posh’s cause, while the psychological importance of James Wesolowski’s goal seconds before half-time cannot be understated.

Peterborough had form for coming from two behind to win the contest, having done so earlier this season against well-fancied Huddersfield Town.

They managed to repeat the feat here, as vaunted attacking trio Aaron Mclean, George Boyd and Craig Mackail-Smith — plus the lesser-known but clearly plenty talented winger Lee Tomlin — piled on the pressure in the second half.

Athletic had kept the ball well at times in the opening period. After the break, though, they could barely get out of defensive mode.

Wave after wave of pressure was applied and eventually, cracks appeared.

Mclean’s supreme leap and header from a long throw to equalise just after the hour was as impressive as the defending to combat it was not.

Then Kieran Lee dawdled on the ball having initially worked his way out of trouble. Boyd dispossessed him and confidently fired past Dean Brill inside the area to put Gary Johnson’s men a goal to the good.

Athletic’s assistant boss Gerry Taggart said in his Chronicle column on Friday that he took defensive mistakes from the team personally.

Of the five goals, he will probably have been impressed least with the header from substitute Dave Hibbert, flying in from deep to head home from a corner for the fourth.

The final strike came in the sixth minute of injury time, with home captain Grant McCann stroking home a penalty after Boyd has been hauled down by Reuben Hazell.

The strange thing is, it wasn’t even as if Athletic played badly here. Front two Warren Feeney and Oumare Tounkara ran their proverbials off with the latter in particular showing some pretty and effective touches.

Central midfield duo Dean Furman and Dale Stephens were left fire-fighting for much of the game but battled away to good effect, while Jones and Taylor were effective enough even aside from their goals.

And even going back to the full-backs, both laid on goals with perfect crosses. His horrible error apart, Lee had a storming match, while Black wasn’t too shoddy either.

At certain crucial times, Athletic came unstuck when put under pressure by the best and most powerful side they have come across this season.

Lessons will have to be learned — but overall, this was nowhere near the woeful performance the scoreline suggests.

Athletic got into their stride to edge early stages and Taylor fired a volley from Feeney’s teasing cross powerfully over from inside the penalty area.

Mclean slipped when shooting from a tight angle, allowing Brill to clean up, before the visitors went ahead.

Black got a bit of luck when the ball ricocheted into his path down the left wing. There was nothing fortunate about his volleyed cross, which fizzed across over a host of defenders, where Jones applied an excellent, precise header back across goal and in off the far post.

Peterborough responded with slick movement and danger signs were apparent.

Stephens almost had a calamity when slicing his clearance from McCann’s cross wide of his own goal, Tomlin turned sharply and hit a shot which Brill gathered at the second time of asking and Black did well to clear a cross as Posh broke in numbers.

Athletic could have gone two up when Tounkara produced a piece of magical skill on the left, beating his marker before cutting inside and firing tamely into the side-netting.

Mclean wasted Peterborough’s best chance of the half when forcing Brill into a solid stop with a shot from eight yards out in an end-to-end contest.

Then came Athletic’s second. Feeney chased a long ball down the right, laid off to Lee who composed himself and caressed a superb cross which the diving Taylor converted with his head at the far post.

Peterborough hit back as the half drew to a conclusion. Tommy Rowe crossed from the right, Brill stayed home on his line and couldn’t quite claw out Wesolowski’s close-range header.

Boyd dragged his shot wide a mere 20 seconds into the second half, which even early on looked like it would be a long one for the visitors.

Stephens hit a free-kick from 25 yards out which whistled narrowly over on a rare excursion upfield, but it was pretty much one-way traffic.

The equaliser arrived after a melee served to fire up Peterborough.

Mclean competed with enthusiasm at a drop ball and when Jones went in hard — but fairly — on Tomlin, plenty of players got involved. The upshot was three bookings and a throw-in — which was taken long by Chris Whelpdale, leading to Mclean’s equaliser. There was no looking back.



I could see fightback coming — Dickov

ATHLETIC manager Paul Dickov felt his team was sorely lacking in belief at Peterborough — even when two goals to the good.

First-half headers by Ritchie Jones and Chris Taylor gave the visitors a handy lead at London Road.

But James Wesolowski stole in, crucially, to halve the deficit seconds before the break.

And it was the cue for a rampant second-half show from Peterborough in which the new npower League One table-toppers slammed home four more goals, thanks in no small part to some shoddy defending.

“I could see it coming,” said Dickov of the horror show which saw Aaron Mclean, George Boyd, Dave Hibbert and Grant McCann all score. “We warned them at half-time.

“At 2-0 we were playing well, but we still looked like we didn’t quite believe we could win the game, which we (the management team) couldn’t understand.

“We lost a silly goal before half-time and told the players ‘believe in yourselves — you are playing well and are winning the game’.

“We told them to do the basic things right and we would see it through.

“Peterborough are a good team and you have to give them respect.

“They have a lot of very good players at this level.

“We knew that if we weren’t at it in the second half we would give them a chance.

“But the goal before half-time was the biggest disappointment. If we come in 2-0 up, it is different.

“They came out with their tails up a little bit. The last thing we said to them before they came out for the second half was, ‘defend properly and do the basics right’.

“We knew they were going to come out all guns blazing and we said to the players to handle it.

“Mentally and physically, we didn’t.

“As I said before the game, their front three are probably the best in the division and can all play at a much higher level.

“We had to handle them and for 40 minutes we did, but after that we didn’t and got punished for it.

“I give them all the credit because they are a very good team and one of the favourites to get promoted.

“But the five goals they scored were all from mistakes by us — they have not cut us open once.”

The main positive aspect for Dickov was the conversion of a pair of well-constructed goals from crosses.

Paul Black drove in a superb cross which Jones met sturdily and accurately at the far post, while Taylor finished off a terrific ball in from Kieran Lee to claim his second goal in as many games.

“It was a great header from Ritchie off a great ball in from Blackie,” Dickov said.

“We were pleased with both goals. After last week, we wanted to score more from headers from crosses.

“The way we reacted after half-time was the disappointing thing for me.

“It is hard to be tough on the players as they have been excellent since I have come in.

“We didn’t get beaten through a lack of hard work, or a lack of effort. We were beaten through bad defending.”

Peterborough boss Gary Johnson revealed he was on the end of catcalls prior to his team’s stunning fightback.

“I heard a feller behind me when we were 2-0 down shout out ‘we’re paying good money for this Johnson’,” said the Peterborough boss.

“I thought it may be the chairman but when I looked round it wasn’t.

“We are a fit team and we hoped if we were a constant threat, like we were, then the goals would come.”


Latics’ next game — Saturday, v Bournemouth at home