Better times ahead — Dickov

ATHLETIC boss Paul Dickov has watched his team’s defeat at Leyton Orient again and again . . . and, final result apart, he still likes what he sees.

The visitors to Brisbane Road were up against a club which has never enjoyed such a spurt of good form.

Orient’s 1-0 win at Hartlepool United on Tuesday night was a 14th game unbeaten, equalling a club record and taking the team to the verge of the npower League One play-offs.

Athletic have slid dramatically in the opposite direction. But Dickov reckons that if his side can build on their hard work last week, better times will be around the corner.

“As always, I like to go through the game a few times and come Tuesday I was really pleased and enthusiastic about the performance at Orient,” said Dickov, whose side have scored only three times in the last nine, winless, matches.

“We break things down when we watch it. And though people may not have realised it at the time, 70-per-cent of the game was played in their half.

“We pressed the ball fantastically well, like we know we can. Without the ball, we were back to the team we know we can be. When we won it, we panicked a little bit. That may be a lack of confidence with results not going our way.

“When we win the ball back and play in their half, with the good footballers we have and with confidence and enthusiasm, we will be okay.

“Now I just want the boys to relax again. But I want them to go out and express themselves every week, with and without the ball.”

Brighton have taken the division by storm this season and Dickov acknowledges the fine job that manager Gus Poyet has done for a club very definitely on the up.

At the same time, he says that Athletic were unlucky when beaten 2-1 at the Withdean Stadium back in September.

Dickov believes that tomorrow’s game represents a terrific challenge for his players and is a contest they are capable of emerging victorious from.