Latics ready to breathe fire!

LOOKS FAMILIAR . . . Charlie MacDonald will oppose his former club at Boundary Park tomorrow.

ATHLETIC are determined to slay the dragon that is Leyton Orient at Boundary Park tomorrow.

Russell Slade’s side has been terrific all season and remain unbeaten.

A mammoth task appears to await Athletic, in 16th place with only two wins and a draw from nine games. But manager Lee Johnson is relishing the prospect.

“Orient have had a great start, so it’ll be difficult for us,” he said. “They’ve been on an unbelievable run and they will be buzzing, but the pressure on them now is to try to sustain that.

“They won’t be complacent, but it’s up to us to try to slay the dragon. Every great run has to come to an end

“Everybody seems to have bought into the philosophy I’ve tried to introduce, and I’m determined not to deviate from that. I’ll be sticking to my values.”

One secret weapon Athletic will have up their sleeve ahead of tomorrow’s game is striker Charlie MacDonald.

He spent the second half of last season with the O’s and scored three goals in 20 appearances, and will be keen to stun his old pals with a goal or two.

Johnson added: “It’s a good one for Charlie. It’s always nice to play against your old club. He has been hurting this week, though. He missed chances at Crawley, but for me the most important thing is that he’s getting in there in the first place.

“I see every day in training what a good finisher he is, so hopefully if he gets a chance tomorrow he’ll stick it away.”