Hazell on the inside track

REUBEN HAZELL

ATHLETIC captain Reuben Hazell isn't taking anything for granted ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup first-round tie at Accrington Stanley (3pm kick-off).

The 31-year-old centre-back will use his contacts at Chesterfield — former Athletic players now with the Spireites include Mark Allott, Craig Davies and Danny Whitaker, plus loan men Kelvin Lomax and Deane Smalley, manager John Sheridan and player-coach Mark Crossley — to get the lowdown on John Coleman's npower League Two side.

Chesterfield defeated Accrington 5-2 on Tuesday night, leaving the strugglers 18th in the table.

With conditions likely to be wet, Hazell reckons his men are in for a tough task before they can start looking ahead to possible big-name ties in future rounds.

"Accrington are a decent side and it will be a tough game," said Hazell.

"It is the FA Cup and it will probably be a boggy pitch as well.

"We are going there hoping to go on a good cup run this season.

“We have been knocked out of two already (Carling Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy) and we want to go somewhere in this one.

"So I will be getting on to a couple of my mates at Chesterfield, who beat them on Tuesday, to find out how good they are.

"It is important to this club to go on a cup run, especially with the financial situation.

"The lads are up for it and we want to get to at least the third or fourth round this season and land a big tie."

With one defeat in six, after eventually seeing off brave Plymouth resistance, Athletic enter the clash in confident mood.

That triumph was achieved thanks to injury-time strikes from Jean-Yves Mvoto and Dean Kelly.

With Athletic up against nine men for the whole of the second half, Hazell fell when trying to halt a run and shot from Bradley Wright-Phillips which put the visitors 2-1 up.

And he feared that the three points were never going to arrive for Athletic.

"You start having doubts, wondering if it is not going to be your day," Hazell added.

"We missed a few chances, I slipped for their second goal and it seemed like one of those days.

"I remember saying to Chris Taylor when we were 1-0 up against 10 men, 'if we don't win this game we will need shooting' — and sod's law, it nearly happened.

"But the lads kept going to the end and late goals saved the day."

Hazell was in the side when Athletic last got past the first-round stage of the competition in the 2007-08 season.

During that campaign, Gary McDonald's famous goal at Goodison Park saw off Everton in round three.

Huddersfield then won 1-0 at Boundary Park to put an end to Athletic’s FA Cup run.