Away-day clincher for Latics

ATHLETIC fans followed tradition by turning out in fancy dress for the final away game of the season. This trio went to Brunton Park dressed as beer bottles, while others dressed as a Smurf, Kermit the Frog, and Sully from Monsters Inc!

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Carlisle 0, Athletic 1
OTHER jobs you can imagine Adam Lockwood doing: blood-stained butcher in an indoor market, small hardware shop owner, head guard at a medieval dungeon . . .

This is a man who has skills in danger of being lost. Skills that deserve to be recognised.

There are no concessions to modern thinking when it comes to the Wakefield virtuoso’s brand of defending. The flash and the fanciful do not sit well with the former Doncaster captain. He is a player of the old school — and Athletic are quickly learning the value of the solid grounding he helps to provide.

Lockwood — brought in from non-league Guiseley to the derision of many — was unmoveable again at Brunton Park, a counterpoint of total conviction as the home team muddled around unsuccessfully for a way to breach a defence that has now gone four and a half hours without letting in a goal. Athletic have kept almost as many clean sheets recently (five in seven games) as in the rest of the season (six in 47).

The football is very different to what it was. Gone are the glorious defeats of early season, in which opposing managers would wax lyrical about how Athletic were the “best side we have faced” after pocketing a win.

In its place is an eight-game habit of not losing, based on a concrete foundation. While Lockwood epitomises the approach which has guided Athletic not only to safety but also with a possibility of a top-half finish, others deserve particular credit in a display that was in some ways sub-par.

Paul Rachubka was on three occasions forced to fling himself around his goal to stop Carlisle from scoring.

James Wilson, another unheralded arrival, again showed off the ground speed that enables him to quash moments of potential danger as soon as they arise. Sometimes even sooner than that, given his excellent positioning.

Clean sheets give you a fighting chance of winning matches. Keeping together this defensive line-up — part of an unchanged team for the last seven fixtures — will surely be a major goal of manager Lee Johnson as contract talks begin.

Graham Kavanagh’s hosts started strongly. Brad Potts would have scored but for being forced too wide when taking the ball round a diving Rachubka after three minutes.

The ever-energetic James Wesolowski then appeared to have been tripped in the box — no penalty was awarded — and the Aussie lashed a snap-shot not far wide.

Carlisle ended the opening period strongly — James Berrett clipped the top of the crossbar with a free-kick from wide on the left — and started on the front foot in the second half.

Dayton, with fellow replacement Joel Byrom, helped tilt this tight contest firmly in Athletic’s direction after the hour.

The latter, who added poise and panache to a congested midfield area, had already headed in from an offside position by the time Dayton netted.

Scampering in from the right flank, the winger dribbled towards two retreating defenders, took the ball quickly between the pair and poked the ball under advancing goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

It was a quality goal, from a player whose ability is doubted by few but whose season has been savaged by injuries.

Gary Harkins was again peripheral, counter-attacks broke down through poor decision-making and there was a real lack of quality in the final third from positions of promise. None of it really mattered.

Next season will now be Athletic’s 18th in succession in League One. If they don't all leave home, Johnson and his men look ready to come of age.