Compact Latics poised to shine

Photo: PICTURE by MAX FLEGO.

UNBELIEVABLE: Athletic striker Reuben Reid puts his hands to his head after failing to find the net with a chance at Colchester.

ARE ATHLETIC better equipped for success now than last season?

On paper, even despite a smaller squad, it appears that manager Paul Dickov's mantra of 'smaller but better' — a reduced playing staff, superior in concentrated ability — has been achieved. Athletic are hoping to do more, with less.

Compare the side that drew with Huddersfield Town on Saturday to that which beat the same opponents at Boundary Park 1-0 in the last campaign, in a performance which arguably marked the zenith of Paul Dickov's first term as a manager.

The common denominators are Kieran Lee, Jean-Yves Mvoto, Chris Taylor and Filipe Morais. In that team last November, still contracted but currently injured, are Paul Black and Dean Furman.

No longer with the club are Dean Brill (Barnet), Reuben Hazell (Shrewsbury), Dale Stephens and Cedric Evina (both Charlton) and sole goal scorer Oumare Tounkara, the on-loan striker who is currently back with Sunderland's reserves.

The only one of those players currently regularly active at a level comparable to Athletic's is Stephens, now pulling the strings for a much-improved Addicks outfit at the head of League One.

The men who filled the gaps for Athletic against the Terriers in the most recent 1-1 draw, in comparison, have all arrived with strong pedigrees.

Defensively, promising former Leicester goalkeeper Alex Cisak has looked commanding and alert in goal; Zander Diamond, who has oodles of rough-and-tumble experience in the Scottish Premier League with Aberdeen, has impressed Dickov in the space of a few weeks enough to have taken on the captaincy; and Bradley Diallo was lively at left-back on his debut, setting up the opening goal of the game with a teasing run and top-class cross.

In midfield, Athletic now boast a highly combative figure in former Peterborough man James Wesolowski, while on-loan Norwich prospect Tom Adeyemi appeared a strong competitor with big lungs on his fist showing.

And up front, Reuben Reid along with potential cult hero Shefki Kuqi have suddenly given Athletic the sort of strike partnership missing last season.

Four-goal Reid has yet to find the net in open play this season but strongly believes that, in an attacking sense at the very least, this team is well-set.

"From an attacking point of view I feel we have better players now — a lot better players," said the former Rotherham striker, a player returning to take up a contract option at Boundary Park in the summer and who has been much-improved since.

"I think it will benefit the team. We had a couple of new boys, Tom Adeyemi and Shefki Kuqi, come into the club last week and they helped us massively against Huddersfield.

"I think the squad is now starting to take shape. There is a lot to come. Going forward, chances haven't been coming along all the time.

"From a personal point of view, to score four goals in seven games is not a bad return for a striker.

"It is unusual to get so many penalties in such a short space of time. But someone has still got to go out there and put them in the back of the net and it isn't as easy as some people think it is.

"As a striker if you play 45 games then you are looking at double figures, minimum.

"And once you get to double figures, you take it from there."

The goal of improvement begins this weekend when Stevenage visit Boundary Park and Reid is preaching that Athletic cannot afford to get ahead of themselves.

"We have to concentrate on a game-by-game basis," he added.

"This season, we have gone away to places like Scunthorpe and won, and then we have gone away to Colchester and been battered.

"You can't look too far towards the future."