Staying put

TONY Pilliskirk and Paul Gerrard making their point on the touchline during Saturday’s defeat to Sheddield United.

TONY Philliskirk will carry on doing the day-to-day duties as Athletic’s caretaker manager — if the board want him to stay on.

The excellent run of three successive victories in npower League One came to an end as Sheffield United exited Boundary Park with a hard-won three points at the weekend.

It was a result which dumped Athletic back into the bottom four and Philliskirk admits that the result might prompt chairman Simon Corney and the board to appoint a permanent new successor to Paul Dickov sooner rather than later.

However, he also pointed out that the players could not be faulted for their efforts against Danny Wilson’s strong and highly experienced line-up.

“Every week, I get asked the same questions,” Athletic’s head of youth Philliskirk said when quizzed on his future.

“The fact we have dropped back into the bottom four may mean he (Corney) wants to bring someone in to elevate things.

“I don’t think you can honestly fault the players’ effort. We had a really good go.

“On any other day, if we hadn’t made those mistakes we would be talking about a 0-0 draw which deep-down you would be delighted with.”

Along with plenty of home fans in the crowd, Philliskirk was clearly unhappy with the role of referee Andy Woolmer on Saturday but chose his words carefully when describing Robbie Simpson’s unsuccessful penalty appeal.

“The one on Simpson, I thought was unbelievably blatant,” Philliskirk said.

“I know it happens all the time when people go into the box, with shirts being pulled. And I understand not giving those, because if you give one, you give 10.

“But how he (Woolmer) has not given the one on Simpson, I don’t know.

“But I will be quiet. I am only an interim or temporary manager, whatever you want to call me. I certainly don’t want an FA charge.

“I have seen better referees, I’ll just put it that way.”

The absence of one player on Saturday caused a stir.

Dean Bouzanis was neither in the starting line-up, replaced by Alex Cisak, nor on the substitutes’ bench.

He was not injured and Philliskirk simply stated that the club had taken action against the goalkeeper.

“It was an internal matter that has been dealt with, end of story,” added Philliskirk.

Athletic are now faced with a run of vital fixtures, starting with Tranmere at Prenton Park on Saturday,

“To put a positive slant on it, it is a good job we won the three games previous to this one,” the caretaker boss added.

“We know we have a massive game at Tranmere and then we have Hartlepool at home, plus Colchester at home and then Carlisle at home.

“It is in our hands. Especially as we also go to Shrewsbury and Bury, teams in and around us.

“We are disappointed to drop into the bottom-four. But it is going to be nip and tuck now and the sooner we get those wins to get back out of trouble, the better.”

YORK have appointed former Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington as their new manager.

The Minstermen sacked Gary Mills following Saturday’s 2–0 defeat at home to Bradford City — a result which left them 18th in npower League Two and four points above the relegation zone.