Opportunity to impress

ATHLETIC defender Reuben Hazell is available for Saturday’s trip to Brentford after completing a one-match ban.

FRINGE players again get the chance to impress boss Paul Dickov in Athletic’s latest behind-closed-doors game.

This time Grimsby Town form the opposition for a friendly which reserve-team boss Lee Duxbury has fixed up in the absence of regular league fixtures.

Over the past two weeks, Athletic have taken on Barrow and then Rotherham in similar contests in a bid to keep those men not involved in the first-team picture fresh. The next reserve game is at home to Macclesfield a week today in the totesport.com League.

It means that out-of-favour players will today have a chance to impress the watching Dickov, who has selection dilemmas to deal with ahead of the npower League One game away at Brentford on Saturday.

Centre-back Reuben Hazell returns from his one-match suspension and could come in at Griffin Park as a straight replacement for Jason Jarrett, who limped off in the latter stages of Athletic’s 1-1 home draw with Leyton Orient last weekend with a hamstring strain and was replaced by Sean Gregan.

Up front, Warren Feeney is away on international duty.

The striker is in the Northern Ireland squad, who take on Italy in a big Euro 2012 qualifier at Windsor Park on Friday night and follow it up with an away game in the Faroe islands next Tuesday.

Feeney’s absence leaves the door open for Ryan Brooke, Dean Kelly or even Dickov himself to feature from the substitutes’ bench as back-up for strike duo Chris Taylor and Oumare Tounkara.

Goals have been at a premium for Athletic lately, with only two arriving in the last three matches.