Back on the front foot

EARLY SCORER: Danny Philliskirk netted for a motivated Athletic team at Preston. EARLY SCORER: Danny Philliskirk netted for a motivated Athletic team at Preston.

IT HAS been a better week in the Latics camp.

We have managed to achieve two solid performances and two good results.

Focusing on the game against top-of-the-table Leyton Orient, it was one we felt should have won.

We had a good solid week’s training, both physically and tactically, in the build-up to the test against my former employers, which had the team ready for this massive game.

We started on the front foot from the first whistle, something we have failed to do in previous weeks.

We dominated in all areas - but unfortunately the only stat that matters is the scoreline.

Again, I had a few chances to score and after hitting the woodwork once more — four times in three games! — I managed to find the opening goal, only for us to drop two points through a poor referee decision. The equaliser we conceded appeared offside.

After the game we were very disappointed: we outplayed a side top of the league and unbeaten.

Things like that seem to go for you when you are flying high, and against you when you are desperate for a result. But I am a believer that during the course of the season we will get a fair share of decisions in our favour.

On to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Preston on Tuesday — we dominated here a few weeks back only to end on the wrong end of a 2-1 score.

The competition rules say a team must field six players from the previous league game’s starting line-up or face an FA fine. We were forced to make changes to our team through injury, but clearly stayed within the guidelines. The opposition teamsheet had nine changes from Saturday’s game; I felt that not only had Preston disrespected the competition, but also showed us a lack of respect by fielding more or less a complete second-string team.

This motivated us more to go and get the result. We had the perfect start as young Danny Philliskirk and James Wesolowski put us 2-0 ahead in the first 10 minutes. After this we controlled the game until half-time.

The second half was a bit scrappy, but we managed the game well. We also had a few players carrying knocks by the final whistle, so all in all it was fantastic to progress and even more so to keep our first clean sheet of the season - long overdue.