The boys gave me everything — Dickov

SEEING RED: Athletic defender Bradley Diallo gets his marching orders for a lunge on Oscar Gobern.

ATHLETIC manager Paul Dickov was delighted with the battling effort by his men in securing a creditable home point against big-spending Huddersfield.

Deadline-day striker Shefki Kuqi’s headed goal just six minutes into his debut was answered by a sweet Anthony Kay volley as the cross-Pennine derby ended all-square at Boundary Park.

Both sides had chances to win the game, with Athletic front man Reuben Reid forcing a good save out of Ian Bennett and substitute Alan Lee crashing a shot against Alex Cisak’s crossbar shortly after arriving on to the field.

As a suitable response to last week’s awful display at Colchester, Dickov was more than happy.

“We played one of the best teams in the division, if not the best, and matched them for 94 minutes and after going down to 10 men,” Dickov said.

“I asked the boys beforehand to go out there and give me everything they have got and I don’t think anyone can question that.

“We defended from the front very well and right through the team.

“I felt that in the first half, (Lee) Novak was getting too much space, but to be fair to the two centre-halves they sorted it out.

“We were pretty comfortable until the sending off. Donal McDermott came on for them and caused us a few problems, but he is a good player.

“I know they hit the bar with a great shot and Alex has had a few saves to make. But they were saves you would expect him to make.

“Reuben was ever so unlucky as Bennett pulled off an excellent save. There were a lot of balls going into their box and we felt we put them under a lot of pressure.”

Dickov was far less impressed with the decision by referee Colin Webster to send off the otherwise-impressive Bradley Diallo for a lunge on Oscar Gobern with 14 minutes of regular time left on the clock.

“I thought it was possibly a yellow card,” he added. “Bradley over-ran the ball a little bit.

“I am constantly told that referees take conditions into account. I didn’t think there was any malice in it.

“I have been told by officials and their staff that everyone thought it was a second yellow and they couldn’t believe it was a straight red.

“I have not seen it again, to be fair to the referee.

“But my initial thoughts are that he went down screaming like a baby too easily.”

The strike partnership between the again-excellent Reuben Reid and Dickov’s former Blackburn team-mate Kuqi pleased the Athletic manager, who also had kind words to offer on-loan Norwich midfielder Tom Adeyemi after his first showing for the club.

“Shefki and Reuben will be a big two players for us,” said Dickov.

“They can both run the channels and hold the ball up.

“Don’t forget, big Shefki didn’t get here until 3.30am on Thursday morning. Then he went out and produced a performance like that.

“Reuben was a danger every time he got the ball and is getting better every week.

“I am hoping — and I am sure — that they will score goals for us.

“Tom was fantastic. He got up and down the pitch, put some good tackles in and every time the ball went forward he wanted to get there and pick up the pieces.

“As much as he is only 19, he is a mature lad. On debut Tom, Shefki and Bradley were all excellent."