Boss predicts Latics will climb table

ATHLETIC manager Lee Johnson sees opportunity in the club’s current league status.

Athletic are perched four positions lower than 15th-place visitors Carlisle - and remain outside the relegation zone only on goal difference.

But buoyed by last week’s 2-0 victory at Preston in the Johnstone’s trophy, a league game in hand is bolstering Johnson’s natural optimism

The Cumbrians exemplify the potential for wild swings in fortune. The side currently being picked by caretaker boss Graham Kavanagh has taken 10 points from a possible 12, after the club started the season badly under Greg Abbott, with two points from a possible 18.

The Athletic boss wants to get on with gaining a similarly-quick points haul.

“We have a game in hand and the chance is open,” said Johnson.

“I feel we could easily be sitting here on 14 points right now. But it’s one thing talking about it, now we have to crack on. We go into the Carlisle game ready and confident of getting three points.”

Carl Winchester, who played for 90 minutes for Northern Ireland under-21s as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Belgium, and Kirk Millar, who came on as a 54th-minute sub in that game, are in international action again tonight, in serbia for the UEFA European Under-21 championship qualifier