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GET IN: Freddie Ladapo celebrates his 49th-minute strike with penalty hero Lee Croft

ATHLETIC boss Stephen Robinson is crossing his fingers that a positive effort from his shoot-out winners will mean progress in the Checkatrade Trophy.

A double switch at half-time, with Lee Croft and Freddie Ladapo introduced, inspired a fightback from 1-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw at a sparsely populated Ewood Park last night.

Blackburn's under-21s side - sprinkled with a heavy dose of experience - were then seen off 5-4 on penalties after the end of 90 minutes, in front of 471 supporters. Any result other than a Fleetwood win at Carlisle tonight will now put Athletic through from Northern Group 'D' to the competition's regionalised last 32.

"Crofty set up Freddie so that was an inspired substitution!" said Robinson, who now turns his attention back to Sky Bet League One action and the visit of AFC Wimbledon on Saturday. We were always going to do that and Ryan Flynn has had a lot of game-time recently so we wanted to get him off as well.

"Unfortunately, we didn't manage to get Billy Mckay off, but strikers always want to stay on the pitch anyway.

"It was a really good exercise for us and hopefully, we will go through to the next round."

Robinson made five changes to the line-up that defeated Doncaster in the FA Cup. In came Josh Law and Calaum Jahraldo-Martin from the start, with Jamie Reckord, Brian Wilson and Ousmane Fane also in the XI, while skipper Peter Clarke was among the players given a breather.

The manager admitted he was impressed by some of his players more than others in terms of those granted a chance to show their worth.

Overall, he was satisfied with the run-out - particularly from an attacking perspective.

"It is the first time I've ever got two points from a game, so that is different," he added, referring to the additional point given to Athletic courtesy of the shoot-out win.

"It was a very good work-out for us. It is a strange competition as they can put out players who are a lot older than the age bracket, which makes it a competitive match.

"We dominated a large part of the game, especially in the second half. It was an opportunity for certain players to show me they are worth a place in the first team. Some did, some didn't.

"We have scored 10 goals in eight games now and that's a pleasing aspect."

ATHLETIC'S under-18s will travel to face Romulus in the second round of the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday, November 15 (7.45pm kick off).

The game will take place at Sutton Town FC.