Furman thirsty for Latics return

ATHLETIC captain Dean Furman hopes to be back in position to lead out the team soon.

The 23-year-old missed skippering the side against Chesterfield on Monday as a result of a sore knee, the same one he had surgery on at the start of the season in order to repair damaged cartilage.

Despite the problem, influential Furman said he was close to making the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie against the Spireites.

“I picked up a knock at Huddersfield on my knee,” said Furman. “It is tricky, after the operation I had earlier in the season.

“But I am working really hard. I was close to making the Chesterfield game, but it wasn’t 100-per-cent and with it being the knee, you can’t take that risk.

“It wasn’t fair on the rest of the team either, to play when not fully fit.”

Another player currently carrying an injury is centre-back Zander Diamond.

The unlucky Scot was forced off at half-time against Chesterfield after over-stretching to clear a ball for a corner.

James Tarkowski, who had impressed in the previous two games as Diamond’s understudy, when the ex-Aberdeen man was out with a neck injury, came on as his replacement.

The state of the respective injuries was being assessed at training today.

Meanwhile, Athletic have handed reserve goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis a permanent contract running up to the summer.

The Australian (21), who spent four-and-a-half years with Liverpool, has been at Boundary Park on non-contract terms for two months.

Bouzanis was part of an Athletic reserves side which lost 3-0 at Manchester United in the Manchester Senior Cup.

All three strikes came in a costly nine-minute period towards the end of the first half, as Lee Duxbury’s side paid the price for a lack of discipline against a United side including goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak and full-back Fabio da Silva.

Jesse Lingard, Will Keane and Davide Petrucci grabbed the goals and while Athletic were able to create a number of openings in the second half, they never managed to trouble Kuszczak.

Matt Smith headed off-target twice, Matt Carr missed with a similar effort and Josh Parker also went close.



ATHLETIC have tried to ensure the game against Leyton Orient goes ahead as planned on Saturday — but could yet be beaten by the weather.
Frost covers have been placed over the pitch this week to protect against the freezing conditions. The temperature dipped to a low level last night.

A pitch inspection has been confirmed for noon tomorrow