Sheehan, Taylor ruled out again

MUCH missed . . . Harold Murray

ATHLETIC manager Dave Penney is convinced his side’s prospects of beating Southampton tomorrow at Boundary Park have been enhanced by not having a midweek fixture.

Penney believes his injury-ravaged squad - he has had as few as 12 senior players available for some games - is ill-equipped to cope with the demands of a heavy fixture list at this time of the season.

He said: “Against Yeovil in our last home match it was a jaded performance which I think was due to putting so much effort in days earlier for the MK Dons game.

“It is difficult to replicate performances when you don’t have the players to change things round.

“We have had a good week on the training pitch, as we did in the build- up to the Charlton game. All the players are fresh and ready to go.”

Penney admitted his side will have to be at its best to get anything out of the game as Saints have hit a rich vein of form, winning their last three matches.

It looks as though Penney will name the same side which kicked off at Charlton as left-sided pair Alan Sheehan and Chris Taylor are again ruled out.

Sheehan, who has an ankle injury, ought to be ready for the match at Brighton on Saturday week while the club is still trying to get to the bottom of Taylor’s injury and illness problems.

There has been one piece of cheer on the injury front with the versatile Andy Holdsworth returning to the squad after recovering from a knee injury.

But having missed the last five matches, Holdsworth cannot expect an instant recall to the starting line-up.

Penney is not envious of Saints, who not long ago splashed out £1million for Bristol Rovers striker Ricky Lambert.

He said: “We knew before the season started we could not do that, and a lot of other clubs in League One are in the same position.

“In fact, there are not a lot of clubs at this level which can spend that amount of money. It just shows what a big football club they still are.”

ATHLETIC (probable): Brill, Marrow, Lomax, Hazell, Gregan, Parker, Whitaker, Furman, Worthington, Colbeck, Abbott. Subs (from): Holdsworth, Ollerenshaw, Lee, Black, Brooke, Rowney, Blackman, McKerr.

Saints manager Alan Pardew must decide whether to change a winning team to include newly-signed Eire international striker David Connolly, who was released by Sunderland in the summer.

Connolly is being viewed as a perfect partner for Lambert, though Pardew looks likely to kick off with the team which started last Friday night at Southend where they won 3-1.

SOUTHAMPTON (probable): Davis, James, Trotman, Jaidi, Harding, Wotton, Papa Waigo, Hammond, Schneiderlin, Lallana, Lambert. Subs: Perry, Mills, Antonio, Thomas. Saganowski, Connolly.

Athletic have been promoting the latest ‘Kick Racism Out of Football’ campaign and at half time tomorrow local youngsters will be displaying a banner they produced during an educational day this week at Boundary Park.