Latics display Trophy intent

SHEFQI Kuqi’s appearance at Scunthorpe showed Athletic meant business.

ACTIONS speak louder than words. While many managers will pay lip service to the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, weakened line-ups can betray their true feelings about the competition.

For Athletic, though, Paul Dickov's insistence that the club would take the second-round tie as seriously as any other game was borne out by the fact that he made only one change — Filipe Morais coming into the side for Robbie Simpson — for the win at Scunthorpe.

Huddersfield topped the changes count with eight — still abiding by the 'six regulars' restriction — while the teams with the fewest changes (three) included Scunthorpe themselves... which may go some way towards explaining why the end-to-end game was so entertaining.


ATHLETIC are looking to break another long-standing hoodoo early next week . . . by winning in front of the television cameras against MK Dons.
Last season, Tranmere’s visit ended in a goalless draw live on Sky Sports, while the previous season's home FA Cup first-round clash with Leeds was broadcast live on the Internet.

Athletic's last televised win came against Kings Lynn in the second round of the FA Cup in December, 2006.

And the last TV victory at home was against Port Vale in October, 2003. Chris Killen and David Eyres scored in a 2-1 win.


GUNNAR Halle was back at Athletic this week.
The full-back, who made 216 first-team appearances for the club in the 1990s, caught up with some old friends at Boundary Park during a five-day visit from his home in Norway.


CHRIS Taylor isn't going to argue too strongly over the provenance of Athletic's winning goal at Scunthorpe.
The winger headed a rebound from Nathan Clarke's header goalwards in the first half and the ball appeared to be heading into the net before Shefki Kuqi slammed it home from a yard out.

"I don't know who scored," said Taylor. "The most important thing is that we won.”