Another defeat puts Latics in peril

Photo: Pictures: ALAN HOWARTH

OH NO . . . Jonathan Grounds misses an open goal, though it wouldn’t have counted if he had scored as he was just offside.

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Preston 2, Athletic 0
IT IS as difficult to commit to paper as Athletic’s spirit-crushing season has been to witness at times, but this latest defeat had ‘relegation candidates’ written through it.

It was not that the visitors to Deepdale played badly. On the contrary, Lee Johnson’s line-up operated with some panache on a pudding of a pitch against a physically brutal home side.

Jose Baxter was handed a roving role on the left of midfield, Korey Smith was at right-back and Robbie Simpson joined Lee Barnard up front in a straight 4-4-2.

For a little over an hour, the home supporters muttered, a floodlight flickered on and off and tricky Bobby Reid showed neat touches in his central midfield role. Athletic looked solid and smart, albeit with little hint of devilry inside the crucial attacking third.

Sadly, the team Johnson has inherited is among the most goal-shy around: the net remained empty.

Baxter, later booked and now crucially banned for two games, went closest with a pair of long-range efforts in a first half controlled by the visitors - passing and movement was a cut above Preston’s.

A positive start to this contest was what Johnson sought and that is exactly what he got.

Chances were few and far between at either end but most of the attacking work was Athletic’s.

A strong home defence consistently denied Athletic room going forward and Simon Grayson’s side crept slowly but surely into the ascendancy.

If Baxter’s booking was enough to dim the mood of the travelling faithful, worse was to come when Grounds blatantly handled Monakana’s centre from the right-wing. Wroe hammered the penalty home.

Athletic could summon little in the way of response until a flurry of corners in added time.

From the last of them, Bouzanis found himself having to hare back in vain towards his own goal from the opposing penalty area, but Hayhurst was quick enough to beat him and Lee Croft in the race to stroke the ball home and seal the victory.

While the attractive polish and crowd-pleasing runs and energy were as prominent here as they were absent in the shocking first half against the Cumbrians three days before, ultimately the overall effect was the same: no points.

Teams that don’t gain points when performing admirably don’t tend to pick up an awful lot when levels dip — particularly not when as goal-free a team as Athletic threaten to play their next two games without 15-goal, yellow-card victim Baxter.

Hope is important and must be maintained publicly in order to try to spur Athletic on in the final five games. But few among the faithful can still be truly confident the club has the wherewithal to avoid the drop.