Kore blimey!

CAPTAIN MARVEL . . . Korey Smith, chased by Connor Brown and Adam Lockwood, wheels away in delight after scoring a superb late equaliser for Athletic last night.

DELIGHT at landing a late equaliser at Leyton Orient was tempered with regret for Athletic manager Lee Johnson, who wants his strikers to hit their straps sooner rather than later.

Korey Smith’s terrific last-minute leveller landed a point that had appeared to be eluding the visitors at Brisbane Road last night — in spite of Athletic enjoying the better of much of the game.

Forward trio Jonson Clarke-Harris, Danny Philliskirk and Charlie MacDonald — who have netted three goals between them since the turn of the year — each could have done better when in prime scoring positions.

Smith’s goal cancelled out Scott Cuthbert’s header to land Athletic a point - which pushes the club up to 17th spot in the league.

“It is almost edginess in front of goal at the moment,” said Johnson of his striker woes. “We see it every day in training and all three of them break the net. I don’t know what it is, but I wish I did.

“We need to get our strikers firing and we could have won that game 3-1, had we finished more clinically.”

The manager was delighted that Smith finally managed his first league goal for Athletic.

“It was a great little strike,” he said. “He was brilliant, Korey Smith, and I was pleased for him.”

Johnson was pleased at the way his team set about their task: “I thought we played well. Our shape was good in the first half and we frustrated them and had some good chances,” he added.

“We need to get our strikers scoring. I’m going to have to lift the voodoo curse, because for some reason, right in front of goal, we can’t seem to put it away.”