Dickov delight as Latics land Lund on loan

MATTHEW LUND . . . highly rated by Athletic boss Paul Dickov.

MATTHEW Lund has boosted Athletic's midfield options by signing for an initial three months.

The 20-year-old, who plays centrally, has spent his pre-season training with Stoke City's first-team squad in Austria. He completed his switch to Boundary Park today.

A contemporary of Ben Marshall, who impressed hugely on the wing for npower League One rivals Carlisle last season, he moved to the Britannia Stadium two summers ago with Marshall after coming through the lauded academy ranks at Crewe.

And Dickov is delighted to have landed his man.

"We think Matthew is a really good player," Dickov said of the Northern Ireland under-21 international. "He is only young, but he has got the quality we are looking for."

Manchester-born Lund has yet to make his debut for Stoke in the Premier League and his experience in the professional game so far comes from a short spell at Hereford last season.

Meanwhile, Matt Smith and Reuben Reid look set to get another chance to forge an understanding up front when Athletic travel to Fleetwood Town this weekend.

The strike duo have shown plenty of promise in pre-season so far, with both players getting goals against higher-ranked opposition.

Warren Feeney and Ryan Brooke failed to find the net for the reserves in a 1-0 home defeat to Burnley yesterday and with a deal for a new striker not yet done, at present manager Paul Dickov is left looking at Smith and Reid — who have linked together well at times — as his first-choice forward line.

The rest of the team also looks relatively stable at present. One hitch is the wait for paperwork to be completed to allow a trialist midfielder to join the club, but with a settled back-four and the imminent return of goalkeeper Alex Cisak to fitness next week, Dickov is hoping that the game against the Blue Square Bet Premier side on Saturday will provide for his best men another valuable test.

"It will be a tough one for us," Dickov said. "Micky Mellon has put together a good team over there.

"When we planned out the pre-season, we wanted to finish with a game like this one.

"They are a big, strong team. But they also like to play football, so it will be a good challenge for us and a similar one to those we will come up against this year."