Brooke back in the firing line

YOUNG striker Ryan Brooke will be hoping to make up for lost time.

RYAN Brooke is on the goal hunt for Athletic tonight.

The striker, who turned 20 earlier this month, is in Lee Duxbury’s reserves squad which takes on Macclesfield Town at Stalybridge (7pm kick-off) in the totesport.com League.

Brooke looked set to be handed a run in the first team by manager Paul Dickov after impressing in pre-season matches.

But an ankle ligaments injury sustained against Preston in the final warm-up match before the start of the npower League One season put his prospects on hold.

An operation to repair the damage went well and having recovered more quickly than expected, he has made cameo first-team appearances off the substitutes’ bench at Sheffield Wednesday and then at home against Leyton Orient.

Contracted to the club until the end of next season, Brooke will hope to impress in order to try to once again rise up the pecking order of an Athletic strikeforce which now comprises Chris Taylor as well as Oumare Tounkara, Warren Feeney, Dean Kelly and Dickov himself.

A strong line-up contains only four players who have yet to make their bow in the first team for Athletic.

One unnamed triallist is on board, but listed-for-loan Sean Gregan’s reported a tight hamstring yesterday and is out, while Jon Worthington serves a one-match ban for a red card picked up against Bury’s second team.

On the injuries front, Athletic centre-back Reuben Hazell has had a scan on his knee problem and the club are expected to get the results soon. The player himself fears cartilage damage which would require an operation to correct.

Phil McGrath (knee ligaments) and Djeny Bembo-Leta (broken leg) have both had surgery on their injuries and are coming into the club on a regular basis, but neither has yet started rehab work.