Mellor ready to grab big chance

DAVID MELLOR: the youngster is eager for more Athletic first-team action.

DAVID Mellor has had to wait a long time for a sustained first-team chance to materialise.

The promising full-back or midfielder burst on to the professional scene with an excellent strike on his full debut for the club at Scunthorpe, a game Athletic won 2-1 in August.

His confident performances back then generated a flurry of transfer speculation — a £300,000 bid from Fulham was turned down in October — but the 18-year-old has since been in and out of the team.

The product of Boundary Park’s celebrated youth system has only turned out three times for Athletic in the last three-and-a-half months.

But after left-back Paul Black suffered a torn hamstring at MK Dons, manager Paul Dickov once again turned to the Shaw starlet and he responded with a solid display in the 1-0 home triumph over Tranmere.

“I have been working hard in training and played in a reserves game in midweek (against Burnley) so felt ready for Saturday,” Mellor said.

“I feel like I played well and gained confidence from it. Hopefully I can kick on.

“It is a great opportunity and now my chance has come, this is the time to take it.”

Mellor is likely to be in the side against Colchester tonight, in a youthful back four featuring another rookie in centre-back James Tarkowski. He isn’t fazed, though.

“As an 18-year-old, every game I play in is exciting,” he added.

“We all get on well as a squad and it is easy to come into a team when it is like that. There is plenty of talking in the back four.

“You can’t use age as an excuse for anything. You just have to get on with it, and that is what I am doing.”