Derby day stakes high

ATHLETIC boss John Sheridan will be without Lee Croft and Brian Wilson this weekend

DERBY day has plenty riding on it for Athletic as they aim to get back to winning ways following the Walsall defeat.

Win for the seventh time under John Sheridan's charge this season and the club will leapfrog rivals Bury, who suffered their first loss under Lee Clark's charge at home to Gillingham.

And Sheridan expects nothing less than for his men to go for the throat in bidding to claim three points against the Shakers at SportsDirect.com Park on Saturday.

He also wants Athletic to follow that up with a positive result at Oxford - the first of seven successive clashes against sides currently in the top 10 of Sky Bet League One and in the hunt for promotion to the Championship.

"With it being a derby, there is a bit of an edge to it," said Sheridan, who will be without suspended duo Lee Croft and Brian Wilson for the Bury clash.

"It is a big game - but then, so is the Oxford game.

"We have done alright at home. I expect us to try to win both games.

"It was disappointing at Walsall, but I will just let that one go.

"That's football and we have to try to get back to winning ways with a tough game against Bury."

Looking further ahead, Athletic have taken the decision to switch home ends for forthcoming matches against Sheffield United (Saturday, March 25) and Bolton (Saturday, April 15).

Home fans will relocate from the Jimmy Frizzell Stand to the Chaddy End as a temporary measure for both those matches, with the club keen to cash in on expected large numbers of travelling supporters.

'DECISION'

"This is not a decision we have taken lightly or without a great deal of consideration," Athletic's chief executive Mark Moisley said.

"One of the key reasons for changing the away section two years ago was to avoid having to move our season ticket holders from their seat for some games, as we are now having to do with these two fixtures.

"We also understand the impact on our disabled supporters and the family section, and we apologise to all supporters who will be inconvenienced by this.

"The timing is far from ideal given that season tickets for 2017-18 will be shortly going on sale.

"We are faced, however, with a situation where up to 1,500 away supporters for each of these fixtures are unable to get tickets, while we have around 6,000 empty seats in the stadium.

"From a financial perspective, over these two games this could be a potential loss to us of over £50,000, and is something we simply cannot afford to ignore.

"While not expecting those supporters affected to necessarily agree with the decision, we hope they will understand the reasoning behind this and continue to show their support to John and the team in these two big games."

Season ticket holders affected by the relocation can use their card to gain access to any part of the ground on the day of the game and those wanting a specific seat can arrange that at the ticket office from tomorrow.

Three games take place in Sky Bet League One tonight. Scunthorpe go to Charlton, Oxford host Sheffield United and lowly Chesterfield are at Walsall.