Attitude spot-on, says boss

PAUL Dickov praised the attitude of his side after completing a first derby victory over Rochdale in the league since 1974.

In a tale of two centre-backs, Nathan Clarke capped a dream debut for Athletic by powering home a first-half header – after Neal Trotman’s nightmare afternoon ended with a first-half red card.

By that time, Reuben Reid had already converted his third penalty of the season after former Boundary Park defender Trotman had bundled over Chris Taylor.

Athletic could have had further goals in the second half and were rarely troubled by the visitors once they had been reduced to 10 men.

“I asked the boys, before anything football-wise, to give me desire, commitment and the right attitude. They did that and got the rewards,” Dickov said.

“In the second half, with Rochdale down to 10 men, people look for you to score more goals.

“But if you think back to last season, we have been in that position before, ahead at half-time and lost. We have been up against nine and 10 men and let them back in.

“We could have had a few more goals. They sat off and playing against 10 is hard to do sometimes.

“But we asked for three points, goals and a clean sheet and we got that.”

The result, a second win in five days, lifted Athletic to 13th place in npower League One and served to illustrate just how quickly early-season fortunes can change.

“Nobody was more disappointed with the first week of the season than I was,” Dickov admitted, referring to defeats against Sheffield United and Yeovil and a Carling Cup exit to Carlisle.

“I wanted to drum into the boys what was required. We were playing well until we conceded and heads went down a bit too easily.

“We asked them to give everything at Scunthorpe, regardless of whether we won, lost or drew. And that was the starting point again here.”

Athletic’s boss also felt that the penalty decisions granted to his side of late had come about in no small part thanks to a new-found attacking intent.

“I don’t think anyone who has seen them can say they are not penalties,” Dickov added.

“The pleasing thing for me is, we are getting people into the box. Last season we didn’t have enough players in the box when we went wide or when we were attacking.

“You make your own luck sometimes.

“But as delighted as I am at winning three points, there are still things we can be better at.”

Rochdale manager Steve Eyre had no complaints over the decisions that went against Trotman and felt his centre-back’s actions had cost the visitors dear.

“The game was spoilt around the half-hour mark,” he said. “We had set up well and were organised.

“We were waiting for a breakthrough and felt we had a foothold in the game.

“Then a little bit of mismanagement from one player in particular, with three breaches of ill-discipline, saw us go 1-0 down and then very quickly 2-0 down.

“He (Trotman) got caught up in the moment, never really recovered from the first yellow card and went chasing things heroically and to his and our cost.”