Let’s hear it for the boys

ATHLETIC manager Paul Dickov hopes the club’s cut-price admission offer can help spur the team to great things against Carlisle on Tuesday night.

The £2 deal at Boundary Park should see a major rise in the number of fans flowing through the gates at Boundary Park.

And with Athletic chasing a play-off spot in npower League One — they have a vital game at Huddersfield Town on Saturday to deal with first — the extra vocal support can play a role in helping the cause.

“I would encourage as many people as possible to come down and help us with their support,” said Dickov, whose side are currently sixth in the table.

“What they will see when they do is a team that really wants to have a go and which we believe is going places.”

One player who is a doubt for either of those two upcoming games in Warren Feeney.

Athletic are awaiting medical reports on the ankle injury which prevented the striker from taking part in Northern Ireland’s 3-0 Carling Nations Cup defeat to Scotland in Dublin last night.

Other than that, Dickov has no short-term injury worries and he could opt to field the same team for a third game in succession at the Galpharm Stadium.



JAMES Tarkowski scored a late winner for Athletic’s new-look reserves team to see off Accrington Stanley 1-0.
The teenage centre-back stole in unmarked to head home triallist Simon Whaley’s free-kick five minutes from the end of a game played at Stalybridge Celtic.

Tarkowski had himself spurned an earlier chance in a scrappy encounter, while Lewis Alessandra went close towards the end on the back of a good passing move.

Reserves: Brill, O’Connor, Holden, Abalimba, Todd, McDonald, Hughes, Tafer, Redshaw, Whaley, Alessandra. Subs: Tarkowski, Connor, Matty D Carr, Kidd, Matty A Carr.


CARL Winchester and Kirk Millar both won caps for Northern Ireland under-21s last night.
The Athletic duo came on as second-half substitutes as Wales claimed a 2-0 win in Wrexham.

For Winchester, aged 17, it was a first cap at that level.