Turmoil goes on for sorry Shefki

Photo: Picture: ALAN HOWARTH

CLOSE CONTROL: Reuben Reid, one of the few positives for Athletic, displays skill and balance.

Athletic 1, Yeovil 2
YOU get paid your money, you take your chances.

That is the general size of it when it comes to life as a striker.

Sadly for Shefki Kuqi and Athletic, the big man’s lasting crisis of confidence in front of goal is costing both his and his team’s record dear.

Here against an in-form Glovers side, rejuvenated under returning manager Gary Johnson and now boasting a record of five victories from their last six fixtures, the 15-goal top scorer had a golden opportunity to turn around a match in which Athletic only stuttered into life after half-time.

Zander Diamond had equalised Gavin Williams’ 25-yard opener with a booming header by the time that Reuben Reid’s low cross fell invitingly in front of the galloping Finn.

Instead of striding onto the ball and smashing into the goal from eight yards, though, Kuqi went for placement. And he succeeded only in scuffing it horribly, the equivalent of a ‘shank’ in golf.

It was the tentative action of a forward who, though as hard-working as ever, has now not registered a goal from open play in npower League One since November – a sequence of 15 matches featuring two successful penalties.

Kuqi’s profligacy was underlined soon after by Yeovil’s in-form marksman Andy Williams.

Following some very generous defending, with the quick Jon Obika able to run unchallenged for far too long, the Glovers striker continued his too-good-to-be-true run by calmly stepping around Alex Cisak and stroking home, left-footed, for a ninth goal in his last 10 showings.

Any wind in Athletic’s sails disappeared.

The end result was a second successive defeat in five days at Boundary Park, and yet another example of the small margins that separate the winners from the losers across the mid-table spread.

Athletic’s recent record should be placed into the context of a number of important absentees. Captain Dean Furman, James Wesolowski, Robbie Simpson, Paul Black and Keanu Marsh-Brown were all missing through injury and suspension from manager Paul Dickov’s strongest line-up.

But after producing such a sterling effort to beat Sheffield United with all but one of those men – Marsh-Brown – similarly out of action, the mini-slump in results terms remains particularly disappointing.

Reid started his first game since the televised win over MK Dons in October of last year and his hard-running, intelligent performance was one of the few bright aspects of the afternoon.

Athletic started slugglishly and were soon behind.

Reece Brown fell over in possession and after the elusive and dangerous Gavin Williams took control, he struck a 25-yard shot which passed through the hands of Cisak on its way into the top corner.

Centre-back Paul Huntington went close to doubling the visitors’ lead with a header off target from an Ed Upson corner and the same man summed up Yeovil’s determination with a diving block from Kuqi’s left-footed shot.

Diamond disappeared from the action to have a bandage applied to a head wound and the same was true of Glovers midfielder Dominic Blizzard.

The touch of Dickov’s attackers was awry in promising positions but as the half drew to a close, James Tarkowski may have done better than head a centre from Filipe Morais over the crossbar from within scoring range.

Chris Taylor had one of his poorer afternoons and couldn’t generate sufficient power on his left-footed shot on the turn as Athletic began to exert some sustained pressure.

Morais struck a daisy-cutting shot from 20 yards seven minutes into the second period which had visiting goalkeeper Sam Walker worried as he dived to his right, seeing the ball pass by the post by only a yard.

And the improvement from Athletic was rewarded when Diamond rose, unchallenged, to head home from Morais’ right-wing corner.

By this stage Athletic were looking good – but Kuqi’s big miss, after he had began the surge forward by heading neatly into Reid’s pass, proved costly.

That said, the defending which allowed Obika to stride forward and slip a pass to Andy Williams was not pretty. The finish was clinical.

Kuqi’s frustration was clear and he picked up a sixth booking of the season for comments made to the fourth official after stopping by the dug-out for a drink.

Youssouf Mchangama came on to the field for his debut and took charge of free-kick duties, without summoning an effort to

trouble Walker, while Reid pulled his effort wide after collecting a flick from substitute Matt Smith.

Athletic’s best chance to level the game for a second time came after 87 minutes. Morais hoisted a free-kick into the area and Tarkowski twisted to head the ball towards the far post, passing no more then a foot wide with Diamond unable to arrive in time to turn the ball into an unguarded net.

It was that kind of an afternoon for Athletic, a team consistent only in their inconsistency.