Results must match ambition

Shefki Kuqi

WITH just under half of the npower League One campaign remaining, Athletic need to take action very quickly to maintain a realistic shot at the promotion play-offs.


Successes in knock-out competitions have served to obscure the fact that, to this point, lofty ambitions have not tallied with results.

Paul Dickov's men have not been in the top six yet this season.


SPIRIT
And for only one week — after winning 3-1 at Leyton Orient in September — have they enjoyed being higher than 12th spot.

Five home defeats have come in the league, a record that is nowhere near good enough for a club poor in cash, even among peers, but rich in can-do spirit.

Yet at the same time, recent positive notes struck include a creditable 1-1 draw at front-runners Charlton and a come-from-behind victory over Notts County which nobody saw coming.

Prior to the visit to Huddersfield on Saturday, Athletic lie 15th in the table — 10 points behind the final play-off position and 10 points above the relegation zone.

This is a league season that has still to take decisive shape for Athletic, even though we are 24 matches in to the campaign.


Mid-season awards:

BEST GOAL
IT GETS better every time you see it replayed.

Robbie Simpson's superb left-footed rocket in the FA Cup third-round tie against Liverpool was a moment none of the Athletic fans present at Anfield will surely ever forget.

Don't underestimate, either, the sneaky flicked pass into Simpson's feet by Dean Furman, nor the clever movement which bought the on-loan striker a crucial diameter of space with which to tee up the 25-yard strike.


BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

CASTING aside the rocky run of results — Athletic are like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, in that you never know what you are going to get from game to game — the main personality yet to live up to his talent is Luca Scapuzzi.

Clearly very gifted yet still inexperienced, glimpses of brilliance like the goal against Crewe which announced his arrival have been followed by long periods of ineffectiveness.


BEST SIGNING
SHEFKI Kuqi sneaks this category. Recently, the burly striker's form has waned; his work-rate has not.

Dickov must see a little of himself in the flying Finn's never-say-die attitude to hassling defenders in possession.

Kuqi has also netted at a rate of half a goal a game, albeit with none arriving in his last seven showings.

Goals apart, it is Kuqi's all-round presence and quest to be better which has benefited the squad, especially its younger members.