Dickov’s selection U-turn

ZANDER DIAMOND:returns to the team after a spell on the injured list.

PAUL Dickov has revealed lessons learned in his first season as a manager led him to stop resting players this term.

His Athletic side entertain the high-flying Owls of Sheffield Wednesday in npower League One tomorrow, while victory over Southend on Tuesday would seal an FA Cup third-round trip to Liverpool.

Add into the mix next month’s two-legged Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Northern Area final against Chesterfield, with the winners progressing to the competition climax at Wembley, and the Scot could be forgiven for chopping and changing.

But he begs to differ. Dickov said: “If there is one lesson I can take from last season, it is that I must try to pick my best team in every match. A couple of times I tried to rest players who were one yellow card away from a suspension, or if they were carrying niggles. It didn’t work, so I won’t be doing that this season. I will always attempt to select the boys most capable of winning a match.”

Dickov said there is a determination throughout the squad to keep in touch with the play-off places, starting with the tough task of overcoming Gary Megson’s Wednesday outfit.

He added: “The boys cannot wait for tomorrow’s match because they want to keep pushing towards the top places in the table. We know it is going to be tough because Wednesday are firing on all cylinders now. “Not only do they have a good team, they have a very strong squad made up of many players who have featured at a higher level.

“They have sold out their allocation so there will be a cup-tie atmosphere in Boundary Park. If the boys give me the same determination, attitude and application they demonstrated in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win against Bradford, I feel we can win.

“I still feel we are four or five points worse off than we should be. That is partly our fault — especially when you look at the 3-0 lead we lost at Carlisle to draw 3-3 — and partly down to decisions that have gone against us.”

Zander Diamond has been declared fit following the knee injury he sustained against Southend at Roots Hall and skipper Dean Furman returns from suspension, but Chris Taylor (hamstring) is rated 50-50.

James Wesolowski and Nathan Clarke both serve one-match bans.