Lethargic display punished as sky falls in on Latics
Reporter: Chris Lynham
Date published: 07 November 2012
Chris Sutherland tries to get the better of a Bury defender on a night of frustration for Athletic.
Athletic 1, Bury 2
THEIR followers turned out to pledge allegiance on derby night, but Athletic failed to win the popular vote.
A woeful opening 45 minutes in which Athletic took one shot led to the downfall in a 2-1 home loss to the Shakers.
That the solitary attempt arrived 60 seconds before the half-time whistle tells everything you need to know about the side last night.
Second to almost every 50-50 ball and off the pace, Athletic just weren’t “at it”.
From the opening exchanges only one side looked capable of winning — even when Robbie Simpson headed home two minutes into stoppage time to reduce the deficit.
The visitors had gone ahead in the 36th minute through a James Tarkowski own goal, the young
centre-half getting in the way of Cliff Byrne's attempted headed clearance.
It was fright night for Tarkowski, who felled David Worrall in the area with six minutes remaining - Bury skipper Steven Schumacher converting the penalty.
Full-back Jonathan Grounds ensured he would be on eggshells for the rest of the contest by earning a yellow card after 15 minutes for a late lunge on jet-heeled Dominic Poleon. And the man operating in front of Grounds, winger Cristian Montano, didn’t even make it to the interval.
His out-of-sorts cameo, which saw him constantly surrender possession and put his team-mates in danger, lasted 40 minutes, at which point club skipper Dean Furman entered the fray.
The Shakers enjoyed the lion's share of possession in the first period, and put Athletic's backline on edge with some fast-paced counter-attacking.
Jose Baxter has been Athletic's inspiration of late but his box of magic tricks was, for the most part, closed in this game, with the forward's movement restricted by a dead leg inflicted by Zac Thompson early on.
He was withdrawn with 20 minutes remaining, Chris Sutherland taking his place at the same time as Matt Smith's arrival in place of Wesolowski.
By this point, Athletic had finally warmed up: Matt Derbyshire's clever half-volleyed pass made its way to Lee Croft on the right flank, and his low drive into the corridor of uncertainty was hastily cleared for a corner by Adam Lockwood.
Croft whipped in the corner and Grounds should have done better with his free header, which whistled past the post.
And Furman, one of the few players who regularly found a blue shirt after his introduction, should have been awarded a penalty when Thompson brought him down eight yards from goal.
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