Penney’s happy hunting ground

ATHLETIC may have lost only once in seven visits to Southend, but they are not alone in finding it a lucky ground.

Dave Penney has revealed that Roots Hall has been a happy hunting ground for him as a player and manager.

The Boundary Park boss took a trip down Memory Lane after his Athletic side won at Southend for the third successive season.

Penney recalled how he scored his first goal for Derby County at Roots Hall on the day his son was born, 21 years ago.

He had spent the previous night at the hospital before dashing off to join up with the team for their trip to Essex.

"It was a Tuesday game and I had spent most of the previous night at the hospital,” he said.

“After travelling with the team I managed to get a couple of hours’ sleep in the hotel in the afternoon.”

Penney also scored the match-winning goal for Doncaster – who were then a Conference club – in a 1-0 FA Cup victory at Roots Hall.

"It has been a good place for me, though I was unaware that it was also a lucky place for Latics,” he admitted.

IT'S amazing the effort and sacrifices Athletic fans make to follow their team.

I met up with Tom, an Athletic diehard, for the 20-minute walk from Southend Victoria station to Roots Hall.

And he revealed he had come off the night shift at the Royal Mail in Manchester before heading straight to Piccadilly to catch the train to London, managing to snatch some sleep on the journey.

ATHLETIC have had their injury troubles but so, too, have Southend who had only six of their permitted seven substitutes for Saturday's game at Roots Hall.

Despite their woes, Athletic have at least managed to field a full complement of substitutes in every match.

The Shrimpers operate on a shoestring, with possibly the smallest squad in League One.

Their first-team squad numbers just 23 players and one of them, former Athletic player Kevin Betsy, is on loan at Wycombe.

Athletic's team list in Saturday's programme contained 32 names, although three of them are out on loan and the likes of Djeny Bembo-Leta, Philip McGrath and Kirk Millar are trainees.