Latics boss faces selection crisis

Photo: Darren Robinson

FLASHPOINT . . . Filipe Morais looks down at felled Walsall player Jordan Cook.

FILIPE Morais' sending-off and new injuries to full-back pair Cedric Evina and Kieran Lee have left Athletic manager Paul Dickov with a selection crisis ahead of the final two matches in the npower League One season.

Morais is looking at a four-match ban for violent conduct, with the extra game added on by virtue of a dismissal earlier this season while playing for the reserves.

Though the player and his manager slammed the decision of referee Darren Drysdale to proffer the red card (see Page 35), Athletic are not planning to appeal the decision.

The camera angle, looking across from the opposite side of the pitch to where the incident took place, is not believed to give a clear view of the tackle.

Added to the danger of losing a £500 deposit — plus the possibility of Morais getting an extra match added on to his ban — in the event of an unsuccessful bid to repeal the dismissal, Athletic officials are inclined to swallow what they regard as a poor decision.

Morais, who is out of contract in the summer, misses the final two matches of the season at relegated Swindon and at home to MK Dons.

Also absent for those fixtures is fellow winger Kirk Millar, whose three-match suspension for a sending-off in the reserves began yesterday.

And a host of players are now carrying injuries that threaten to end their seasons.

Captain Reuben Hazell is still struggling with a sore knee, Ryan Brooke has a niggling ankle problem that is currently ruling him out of the action and Paul Black's abdominal injury is likely to see him miss the rest of the campaign.

Chris Taylor (hamstring) failed a fitness test yesterday morning and Oumare Tounkara (ankle) pulled out at a late stage despite being named on the original team sheet as a substitute.

Add to that Cedric Evina's ankle injury which saw him retire from the action midway through the first half yesterday and Kieran Lee's pulled hamstring which meant he had to come off at half-time, and the extent of the headache now facing Dickov becomes clear.

On the positive side, safety from relegation was secured thanks to the point gained in the 1-1 home draw against Walsall.

Allied with Bristol Rovers' 2-1 loss at Bournemouth and Dagenham's defeat at Huddersfield by the same score line, it means Athletic can now finish no lower than 19th.

The side that finished the Walsall game featured four teenagers in Carl Winchester, James Tarkowski, scorer Jason Lowe and Aidan White.

Of the outfield players, Ritchie Jones was the elder statesman at 24 and with a host of injuries and suspensions to deal with ahead of the trip to Swindon on Saturday, Dickov may be forced to blood still more youngsters.

“When they are having their drinks before the game and the recovery drinks afterwards I have to put a teat on some of the bottles," joked Dickov, who brought in first-year scholar David Mellor as a late replacement on the bench for Tounkara.

“It does bode well for the future and when you have a young team like that, you can’t expect a perfect performance either.”


A YOUNG Athletic reserves side does battle with Rochdale tonight (7pm) in a Manchester Senior Cup tie which takes place at Ashton United.