Blown it!

SPOT-KICK PAIN: Athletic's Chris Taylor sees his penalty saved by Carlisle's Adam Collin.

Latics waste chance of bumper pay-day
ATHLETIC manager Paul Dickov couldn’t hide his disappointment as the club once again missed out on the prospect of a lucrative cup run.

Carlisle United left Boundary Park last night with a 4-2 win on penalties after securing a 1-1 draw after extra time, leaving the Cumbrians with the possibility of Premier League opposition in the second round of the Carling Cup.

It was the ninth successive occasion that Athletic have failed to make it past the opening stage of a knock-out competition.

Despite a Reuben Reid penalty which gave Dickov’s men a deserved 1-0 lead at half-time, Carlisle

comprehensively outplayed the home team in the second half to equalise through Jon-Paul McGovern’s free-kick.

Though Matt Smith directed a pair of headers on to the Carlisle crossbar, the performance provided food for thought ahead of this weekend’s trip to Yeovil.

“I was desperate to get a cup run going and felt this was a good opportunity, especially coming in at half-time 1-0 up,” said Dickov, who revealed that Zander Diamond hobbled off the pitch in extra-time as a result of a dead leg.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out like that. We needed to get that killer second goal and we were playing some good football. We told them that we could still get better after half-time but second half, we have to give them credit. They played well.

“We need to keep a better shape. Especially when we go in front, it is all about doing the basic things right. I don’t think we did that.

“In the first half, we didn’t let them play. In the second half, they imposed themselves on us a bit more and we stopped getting our full-backs and wide players who gave us the joy in the first half into the game.

“We probably dropped a little bit too deep, as well, which let them come on to us.”

“We had Zander carrying an injury in the second half and James (Wesolowski) was a bit tired as well.

“Going into extra time I thought it was pretty even. We hit the bar for the second time and they had a couple of chances.

“It is disappointing losing on penalties.”

The efforts of debutant Wesolowski provided some cheer for Dickov.

He was effective in central midfield as Athletic enjoyed their best periods early on, though the ex-Peterborough man tired as the game wore on and was replaced just before extra-time

“Though he has had a pre-season under his belt it is not the same as playing matches and he was a little it tired towards the end,” said Dickov of his new acquisition.

“But he will be better for the game-time out there. He is a good player and will be fantastic for us.”

Athletic manager also praised the work of Smith, while emphasising the need for the team to play to his strengths.

“He was unlucky, the big man,” he added. “He keeps getting himself into the right positions and he is a threat up there. That is why we kept him on even though he was tired out towards the end.

“But we have to realise that it is too much of an easy game sometimes just to get the head up and hit big Matt. We need to get a few more passes in, get the ball out wide and get crosses in where he is dangerous.”

But there was a little bit of good news for Athletic last night when it was revealed former Boundary Park striker Chris O’Grady had completed his move to League One rivals Sheffield Wednesday.

Athletic will receive a percentage of the fee, believed to be in the region of £300,000 as they sell-on clause in the original deal which took O’Grady from Boundary Park to Spotland.