Looking forwards

Reuben Reid . . . on target against Wigan Athletic.

PROWESS further up the field is the target for Athletic manager Paul Dickov, now that his defence boasts some serious size.

The imposing figure of Zander Diamond is the latest addition to a seriously beefed-up back-line which also features the imposing figure of Jean-Yves Mvoto.

With new goalkeeper Alex Cisak operating behind the centre-back pairing, Dickov is confident that the signs are good.

It is an argument given extra weight by the new boys’ efforts in keeping a clean sheet in the 1-0 win at Wigan in the behind-closed-doors friendly yesterday, Reuben Reid scoring the only goal.

“Zander will be a great signing for us,” said Dickov, whose men were up against a host of players with Premier League experience, including Maynor Figueroa, James McCarthy, Victor Moses and Jordi Gomez.

“He has experience of playing at the top level in the Scottish Premier League — and I don’t care what people say, it is a very hard league.

“It is a credit to Zander that he has played for the amount of time he has in that division.

“And it is also a credit to him that he turned down bigger offers to come to us.

“We hope now that with Zander, Jean-Yves and Alex we have helped to shut the back door.

“Now it is a case of opening things up at the other end and that is what we are striving to do.”

Dickov is hoping to bring in at least one and hopefully two new players by the end of the week, with a striker and central midfielder the priorities.

Reid, playing up front along with rookie striker Matt Smith, settled the Wigan clash early on by pouncing on a deflected Chris Taylor shot and side-footing past Ali Al-Habsi.

The game was split into six 15-minute periods and Athletic played a full-strength line up for the first hour.

Oldham: Cisak; Lee, Diamond, Mvoto, Black; Morais, Trialist, Furman, Taylor; Smith, Reid. Subs: Carr, Winchester, Mellor, Millar, Feeney, Brooke, Hughes, plus four trialists.

With a strong Wigan line-up also fielding names like Emmerson Boyce, Gary Caldwell, Mohamed Diame, Ben Watson and Mauro Boselli, Dickov was delighted with his team's efforts.

“We are trying to play football the right way which is pleasing and our team shape was excellent,” said Dickov, who again emphasised the need for game-on-game improvement as the new season approaches.

o ATHLETIC'S reserves are in action at Salford tonight (7.30pm kick-off).