Dickov demands instant response

SPOT OF BOTHER . . . Kieran Lee was the victim of a challenge which might have resulted in a penalty.

THE PECULIARITIES of penalty-area manoeuvres may have ultimately cost inconsistent Athletic the chance of taking three points against Scunthorpe.

But manager Paul Dickov is experienced enough in the game to know that the standard of proof for fouls in the box is much higher than a 'reasonable doubt'.

Kieran Lee was certainly knocked over by the arms of Scunthorpe's Damien Mozika in the first half of the 2-1 defeat at Boundary Park on Tuesday.

And if identical contact had occurred outside the area, there is little doubt that referee James Adcock would have whistled for a foul.

As it was, the official was emphatic in his denial of what he viewed as a dubious claim from Athletic.

Presumably — and without permitted access to the views of officials, we are left grasping for clues — Adcock felt that Lee went to ground under too little contact.

In Dickov's opinion, that assessment was erroneous.

And though he wouldn't give his opinion publicly on a weak and muddled showing from Adcock, who dallied in sending off Scunthorpe's Josh Walker late on as he apparently didn't realise he had already been handed a yellow card, Dickov still felt his side should have done more in other promising positions to claim what could have been a fourth npower League One victory in five games.

“It was definitely (a penalty)," Dickov said. “We have seen it again. But we didn’t lose the game because of that and I don’t want to make excuses about it.”

In a month containing six more fixtures, Athletic can little afford to dwell on what went wrong against the Iron following the win at Sheffield United three days previous.

The trick, when confronted with such a congested list of games, is to approach each one with a confident, clear approach, starting again now with Yeovil this weekend.

“We need to get back on track," Dickov added. “Our form has been decent recently and if we can take how we played for 70 minutes against Scunthorpe and take it into a full game, we won’t lose many. We have to take all the positives and kick on for Saturday now.”