Dickov throws down the gauntlet

RALLYING CRY . . . Paul Dickov wants his Athletic side to finish the season with a flourish.

THE SEASON starts here for Athletic.

Manager Paul Dickov is as enthusiastic about his side as ever — and he has now challenged the team to perform better in their final 10 matches than anybody else in npower League One.

An awful run of results at least contained some hope in the shape of a battling effort at Leyton Orient last week, a seventh defeat in eight matches.

And it is Dickov’s firm belief that half of the performance at Brisbane Road — when Athletic were not in possession — shaped up well.

Now, starting with the visit of the division’s front-runners Brighton to Boundary Park tomorrow, Dickov wants his mid-table side to relax and perform equally well on the ball.

“My glass is always half-full and never half-empty,” said Dickov, who will be forced into at least one change following Ben Amos’s recall to Manchester United, with Dean Brill set to start in goal.

“We have tailed off and we are all disappointed about that.

“But we have come a long way this season with a young squad and a young management team.

“What we need to do now is have a 10-game league between now and the end of the season and see if we can finish top of it.

“We want to win every game and in the right way.

“I still believe in the boys. We see them every day in training and we just need them to transfer what they are doing there on to the pitch.

“We need to have no apprehension and to go out there and play with enthusiasm.”

Dickov also hopes to be able to once again call upon Jean-Yves Mvoto.

The Sunderland centre-back is fit once again to go out on loan, but his performances while with Athletic have alerted other sides in the Championship and League One.

“We are hopeful Jean will be involved on Saturday,” Dickov said of the situation.

The Athletic boss is seeking to name four of the main players down the spine of the team — Reuben Hazell, Mvoto, Dean Furman and Dale Stephens — together in the starting XI for the first time since the 2-1 home derby defeat to Rochdale on Monday, January 3.

That was the game in which Mvoto picked up the ankle injury that saw him depart. It was also Brill’s last appearance for the club.

Tomorrow’s game is the final one in midfielder Sam Mantom’s initial one-month spell with Athletic.

Five points clear at the top of League One, Brighton manager Gus Poyet has only Jim McNulty (ankle) and Jamie Smith (foot) unavailable for the game at Boundary Park.