Inside track is secret weapon for Philliskirk

TONY Philliskirk is hoping his bit of inside knowledge will give Athletic an edge in tomorrow’s latest crunch npower League One clash at Tranmere.

Former Athletic manager Ronnie Moore is in his third spell in charge of Rovers, and although they have slipped to sixth place after topping the table earlier in the campaign, a tough match is guaranteed at Prenton Park.

Stand-in Athletic boss Philliskirk will know, more than most other managers, exactly how tough it will be, having been on the coaching staff when Moore was at Boundary Park for a largely-unsuccessful spell between March, 2005 and June, 2006.

Philliskirk said: “Tranmere have had a little bit of a blip which every team goes through, but I know exactly what to expect when we play one of Ronnie’s teams.

“I worked here when Ronnie was manager and I know how his teams play. I know how they set up.

“They always work ever so hard and they will be well organised, so we’ll just have to be ready to match that.

“I know he will want to turn us over because when he did leave here he felt he had a bit of unfinished business.

“His players will be wound up for the game, that’s for sure, so we have got to match that first and foremost.

“Ronnie has had his players giving everything all season.

“That’s why they’ve been up near the top of the table. If you get that from your players, you give yourselves half a chance.

“He deserves a lot of respect for the job he’s doing there, though if you’d have offered him his current position at the start of the season I’m sure he would have snatched your hand off.

“If they do end up in the play-offs, he will deserve a massive pat on the back.

“I don’t think it will be a nice football game, but at the end of the day, we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves.

“We need to concentrate on what we’re good at.

“We believe we’ve got enough in the team/squad to go there and get a (positive) result and that’s by far the most important thing.”

Philliskirk has received a boost with the news that on-loan Southampton striker Lee Barnard will be available for the trip to the Wirral having resumed full training yesterday.
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