Positive reaction delights Tony

GO FOR IT, BOYS: Tony Philliskirk (left) and assistant Paul Gerrard urge on Athletric from the touchline.

TONY Philliskirk was fulsome in his praise for his players after their emphatic end to a miserable run of form.

The stand-in boss said the drop into the relegation places in midweek may have provided a shock to the system.

But whatever the inspiration, Philliskirk felt his men won in style: “I can’t praise the players enough. I thanked them afterwards for everything they have given me in the last three or four days and told them that with that level of performance, there should be no team in the division they should fear.

“We made no bones about it during the week. The most important thing was three points. For an hour we played really well. And in the first half we looked exciting.”

Two changes were made to the line-up that went down 3-1 at Walsall. Tarkowski was brought in for Cliff Byrne in defence and Jordan Obita got a full debut at the expense of Carl Winchester.

“I tried to simplify things. I changed back to a 4-4-2 and having seen Jordan (Obita) do very well in training, he gives you a little bit of extra balance on the left, attacking the outside and making the pitch bigger for you.

“My job was preparing the team tactically but the players themselves took on board what needed to be done.”