Smith’s tall challenge

Matt Smith celebrates scoring the third goal for Oldham

ATHLETIC goal hero Matt Smith knows he faces a tough battle to regain a starting spot as Paul Dickov’s forwards continue to fire.

The tall 22-year-old netted his second goal for the club at the weekend, providing a neat finish off a Shefki Kuqi backheel to seal a 3-1 win at Leyton Orient.

Kuqi also scored and created another for five-goal Reuben Reid to nod home.

With Robbie Simpson also showing some neat touches on the right wing — the on-loan Huddersfield man can also operate as a central forward — Smith is being driven to do all he can in his time on the field to impress.

“The game was pretty open towards the end and I was happy to get on to provide a fresh pair of legs,” said the former Droylsden player (pictured celebrating his goal), who has consistently provided a strong penalty-area threat in his appearances for Athletic to date.

“It was a brilliant backheel by Shefki and one-on-one I was able to finish it off.

“At the moment it is going to be hard to break into the team, with Reuben and Shefki both playing extremely well.

“But it is up to me to do well when I get playing time.

“I was happy with the goal but more importantly, the win.

“The camp is absolutely buzzing now. We are four games unbeaten which is very positive and we are looking to go onwards and upwards now.

“I was happy to get the goal but more importantly, it was about the performance of the lads in the 80 minutes prior to me coming on which did the trick.

“We played some good football, created some great chances and were unlucky not to convert some of them.

“It is early days and the league won’t start to take its full shape for a while.”

Athletic have lost only once in their last seven games and face Brentford at Boundary Park on Saturday, a reunion for Dickov with his former Manchester City strike partner and now Bees boss Uwe Rosler.