Taggart in hot water

FLARE-UP . . . Gerry Taggart became embroiled in an incident with several Carlisle players.

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ATHLETIC assistant manager Gerry Taggart was sent to the stands on an ultimately-disappointing night on which Athletic fans packed out Boundary Park.

Boosted by the Chronicle-backed £2-entry promotion, a season-best crowd of 8,564 watched Carlisle substitute Craig Curran net a late winner to end a seven-match unbeaten run for the home side.

The result leaves Athletic a place outside the npower League One play-offs ahead of the weekend trip to Bristol Rovers.

But the main talking point afterwards was Taggart’s flare-up with several visiting players seven minutes from time – an incident which was not witnessed by manager Paul Dickov, but which could land his right-hand man in hot water with the FA.

“I am not sitting on the fence and that is one thing I will never do, but I didn’t see a lot of it,” Dickov said.

“When you are my size and there a lot of big people jumping in there you don’t tend to get a very good view!

“These things happen and tempers were high. It was a high-tempo game.

“We will have a look at it and see what really happened.”

Taggart’s intervention – Carlisle midfielder Tom Taiwo was left with a cut above his nose, though it was not clear who caused it – was sparked by a tussle between Athletic substitute Warren Feeney and visiting centre-back Lubo Michalik, which was then followed by several players becoming involved in a melee near the home dug-out.

Athletic chief executive Alan Hardy said: “We will have to wait and see what the referee puts in his report. The FA will receive it today.”

While it put an unsavoury slant on the night’s proceedings, Dickov was pleased with the bumper turn-out while also regretting his side couldn’t ever get going on a rainy evening against a Carlisle side who went about their task well.

“The positives were the crowd and the effort that the boys put in,” Dickov added.

“We didn’t have the quality that we have had recently, but with a young squad we have had a lot of games in a short space of time and you won’t get that every single game.

“The main thing after this disappointment is how we react.

“And to be fair to them, every time we have had a setback they have reacted well.

“The fans were magnificent.The one thing I have never done here is have a go at the crowd, because the ones who have come along have been fantastic, as were the ones who came for this game.

“I just hope they come back, because we all know we are better than we were here.”

Dickov felt his front two of Oumare Tounkara and Reuben Reid didn’t bring others into play enough to get the team going forward regularly, despite a positive opening quarter-hour from the home side.

“The longer the game went on, we got a bit naive in our decision-making,” he added.

“We are at our best when we get the ball and play in the opposition half and hold the ball up. There wasn’t enough of that.

“But the last thing I am going to do is have a go at these boys because they have been magnificent for me.

“They have shown already this season on many occasions how good they can be.

“I am sure they will show that again.”

Hardy echoed the manager’s views on the turn-out at Boundary Park, adding: “The attendance exceeded our expectations.”