Get on with it!

Korey Smith

USING the absence of James Tarkowski as an excuse for Athletic’s problems doesn’t wash with captain Korey Smith.

The 22-year-old skipper was one of the brighter sparks on an awful night at Notts County, in which his team shipped three goals and could easily have conceded six.

“Tarkowski has been brilliant this season and is a big figure for us - but we have a squad here and everyone has to come in and do their job,” said Smith, one of only two men who has started in every league and cup clash this season.

“Players will get suspended and injured. You just have to get on with it. First half, to be fair they could have scored two or three. We came in at 1-1 and in the second half, we started out on top of them.

“But the sloppy goals we gave away hurt us.”

Replacing Notts County at the bottom of the division are Bristol City, Athletic’s next opponents on Saturday at Ashton Gate.

Tarkowski returns from suspension and Smith says it is vital the team performs at its best to get back to the sort of form that brought three wins in four matches before the County defeat.

“Bristol City are a very good team,” he added. “They have a lot of very good players. We will put in some hard days of training and hopefully go there and get a good result. As a young side, hopefully we can learn from our mistakes. But we can’t keep talking about it, we have to start doing it.



Athletic have been linked with a loan swoop for Manchester United’s Larnell Cole (20).

The highly-rated winger, an England under-20s international, was a member of United’s under-21 Premier League-winning campaign last season and he scored four times as Athletic fell to a 7-0 Manchester Senior Cup drubbing in February.

mattchambers@oldham-chronicle.co.uk