Lee eyes flying start to season

SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED . . . Adam Rooney with Athletic boss Lee Johnson (left) and chairman Simon Corney.

ATHLETIC boss Lee Johnson is relishing the prospect of tomorrow’s season opener at Stevenage.

After busy summers, both sets of fans and players will fancy their chances of getting off to a flying start at the Lamex Stadium.

Johnson believes his team is more than capable of ruffling a feathers this season.

He said: “It’s going to be a good game against a big side. We know a fair bit about them and I’ve played against Graham Westley’s sides for years so I’m familiar with their style.

“Whoever handles the first-game pressure best will prevail. We’ve got 100 per-cent belief that we can go there and win.”

Johnson has a near full-strength squad to choose from. The only injury doubts surround newly-captured winger James Dayton and midfielder Carl Winchester Johnson looks likely to throw striker Adam Rooney straight into the side following his signing yesterday.

The former Birmingham, Inverness and Swindon hit-man is a major coup for Athletic.

“I am delighted to have finally signed Adam,” said Johnson. “We worked really hard to get him and Adam is exactly the kind of high-calibre player we want here.”



ATHLETIC were still hoping to finalise a loan capture today, although boss Lee Johnson rated the chances of a deal being closed as “70-30 against” ahead of tomorrow’s match.