Taylor on radar

CHRIS TAYLOR

CHRIS Taylor has been linked with a move back to Athletic from Bolton, as manager John Sheridan tries to solve his left-sided conundrum.

The Bolton winger has been out-of-favour this season under Phil Parkinson and could be made available on loan - or even permanently - as the under transfer embargo club try to create space in their squad.

Athletic are thought to have received a firm "no" from Parkinson when making initial inquiries.

But that picture may now have changed as Wanderers' attempts to make room for incoming players gains pace.

A return for Taylor after four seasons away would play well with supporters as Sheridan looks to recreate his best days as manager all over again in his third spell at the helm.

For now, though, the focus is placed squarely on a positive mindset for the visit of Bradford City to SportsDirect.com Park tomorrow, a clash for which new signing from Brighton, Rob Hunt, comes straight into contention. See other story.

"Bradford played really well against Millwall and are a good team," said Sheridan, who is without Lee Croft and Darius Osei for another week as they recover from hamstring strains.

"They have some good players and are in a healthy position.

"They will fancy getting into the play-offs or even automatic promotion so we have to respect that.

"We have to go all-out to win as many home games as we can. To win two from my first two is down to the players and I credit them.

"They haven't score many goals and you could see the enjoyment afterwards, clapping the crowd. That is what I want.

"I want us to go out and believe we can win games and if we play like we did against Peterborough, we have got a chance."

Sheridan's side can climb out of the bottom-four in Sky Bet League One with a third straight home victory, as long as Shrewsbury lose at Gillingham and Bury fail to beat visiting Walsall.

Ryan McLaughlin, who scored against Peterborough while playing up front, could take on that role again with Sheridan keen to use his pace - a rare commodity in the current squad - in a central area.

"I have to look at what I think might help us," Sheridan said. "It may be we go away in a 3-5-2 and have a more attacking system at home.

"I want to get goals and to be adventurous. That's the best chance of winning a game.

"You can see he's a bit raw and it's difficult for Ryan. I'm throwing him in there and shouting at him like he's played there for 10 years!

"I could see he was drifting out to the right on Tuesday, but I want him in the middle. He got used to it and did a lot better in the second half.

"Playing between people off the shoulder, he had opportunities one-versus-one.

"Play one up front there and you don't score. The second goal was a prime example of having two up front when 1-0 up and you get the goal from it."

Athletic (probable, 4-1-2-1-2): Ripley; Wilson, Clarke, Gerrard, Reckord; Fane; Green, Banks; Flynn; Amadi-Holloway, McLaughlin.

Subs (from): Kettings, Law, Hunt, Edmundson, Mantack, Ngoo, Erwin, Mckay.