Montano and Croft can make an impact, insists boss

CRISTIAN Montano can have as big an effect for Athletic as the crack wingers the club has already fallen victim to this season, says manager Paul Dickov.

Having brought in the Colombia-born winger late last week for an undisclosed fee from West Ham, Montano was thrust straight into the action at MK Dons as a knock-on effect of the hamstring injury sustained by James Wesolowski in training.

The 20-year-old was off the pace at stadium:mk, but looked more threatening during the home draw with Walsall before being replaced by Connor Hughes after 71 minutes.

"Cristian will be a big player for us the more game time he gets, because he is positive," said Dickov.

With Lee Croft also showing flashes of his potential, Dickov is keen to get his side playing in a way that makes best use of the wide duo.

"We saw in the first half (against Walsall) what a threat our wide players were," said Dickov. "But we ended up playing too much tippy-tappy football around their penalty area."



ATHLETIC'S reserves lost 2-0 at Burnley in a behind-closed-doors friendly match yesterday.

Windy conditions at the Clarets' Gawthorpe training ground made good football difficult, though it was a useful run-out for the younger players and triallists.

Striker Matt Smith headed against the crossbar and the other senior players to impress were Carl Winchester and Connor Brown.




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