Athletic pass test as rivals get physical

Photo: Alan Howarth

FALLING STAR . . . all-action Athletic wide man Chris Taylor goes flying following a rugged Burnley challenge.

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ATHLETIC 0 BURNLEY 0
IF THERE is one thing you absolutely don’t want to happen in a game like this, it is picking up injuries.

Last season at around this stage, Ryan Brooke suffered against Preston, with his case memorably taken up by assistant manager Gerry Taggart against the perceived offender Andy Lonergan.

The Athletic striker suffered a hefty knock to an ankle and wasn’t seen in the first team until late September.

So when at various stages Matt Smith, Zander Diamond and Jean-Yves Mvoto – all three ‘new’ signings for 2011-12 – showed discomfort after Burnley challenges, those of an Oldham persuasion winced, not only in sympathy for the stricken but also for their own hopes.

Currently, this clearly isn’t a squad big enough to easily sustain the loss of key players for any length of time.

At the same time, though, the Championship side’s zest for this game certainly made for a more interesting spectacle than under-par Blackpool provided at the weekend.

It was a good test. And with Athletic giving as good as they got – there was even a mini-brawl after an alleged elbow on Smith and Filipe Morais was shown a yellow card soon after as referee Paul Graham tried to calm things down – the earning of a draw was a decent reward for a home side who not only restricted their opponents but played some good football of their own.

Burnley, armed with quality attacking players like Charlie Austin, Martin Paterson and Ross Wallace, failed to force a real save from young goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

Much of that was down to Diamond and Mvoto’s physical, no-nonsense partnership at the back, not to mention the current purple patch of Paul Black and the youthful vigour of Carl Winchester.

Wallace should have done better than side-foot low and narrowly wide from inside the area as Eddie Howe’s men broke forward in the 25th minute; ditto Austin, diving forward to meet the Scottish winger’s quickly-taken free-kick at the far post in a rare moment of second-half excitement but heading wastefully over.

Those opportunities were as close as Burnley came to breaking the deadlock.

Athletic’s movement up front wasn’t as fluid, but in Matt Smith there appears to be a player of some potential.

Lining up alongside the hard-working and also-improving Reuben Reid, Smith’s aerial prowess was such that Burnley stopped bothering trying to prevent his flick-ons after a half-hour, instead dropping off to pick up the ‘second ball’.

He hit a couple of speculative shots over the bar and headed into ‘keeper Lee Grant’s hands after the break, understandably tiring towards the end of his first full game ever played at this sort of pace.

Dickov’s men actually went closest when the game was at its best in the opening stages.

New captain Dean Furman struck a snap-shot which whistled just wide of a beaten Grant’s right-hand post from 25 yards after only eight minutes.

Solid throughout and despite another very lively showing from Chris Taylor down the left, Athletic remain a work-in-progress moving forward.

For now, matching a side like Burnley has to be taken as a positive sign, a week-and-a-half before npower League One begins.