Dickov focused on Addicks test

CHARLTON Athletic striker Pawel Abbott will be out to put one over his former club tomorrow.

PAUL Dickov isn’t about to check on the availability of open-top buses for next May just yet.

Despite a fine start to the season which has seen the team play some refreshing football, netting six points from two matches to head the early npower League One table, the Athletic boss is firmly grounded in reality ahead of his side’s difficult test at Charlton tomorrow (3pm kick-off).

The Addicks have a similar record, winning both their matches so far.

Pawel Abbott — last season’s 13-goal top poacher under former manager Dave Penney — will no doubt be determined to find the net against his former employers.

It will be the second week running in which Athletic’s defence have found themselves up against a former team-mate after Lee Hughes’s eventful return to Boundary Park at the weekend.

For Dickov, though, the result gained from the trip to The Valley will be mainly down to how Athletic approach the contest.

“Pav (Abbott) has gone there and done reasonably well for them so he will be a danger,” said Dickov of the 28-year-old striker, who opened his account for Charlton in their 4-3 defeat at Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup.

“But while we will show Charlton a lot of respect, it is about how we approach the game.

“We are constantly emphasising to the boys that no matter who we are playing or where it is at, we have to concentrate on ourselves.”

Dickov has options as fringe players jostle for a place. Fit-again winger Chris Taylor is among that number, as is Sean Gregan. But Dickov has pleaded for patience as he implements a performance-based selection philosophy.

“Tayls will be a big player for us this year, but the problem he has got at the moment is, the team is winning,” Dickov added.




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