Hard work pays dividends

AGONY AND ECSTASY: Tommy Elphick can’t quite believe it after Pawel Abbott (above, right) puts Athletic in front

Brighton 0, Athletic 2

Latics erase memory of Saints shocker

THIS winning performance from Athletic was as controlled yet understated as it gets.

No goals conceded, again. And in a game of few chances, Dave Penney’s men clinically accepted those that came their way in the second half through Pawel Abbott and Reuben Hazell.

Athletic’s club shop won’t do a roaring trade flogging DVDs of a pretty uninspiring encounter at the Withdean Stadium.

Then again, who cares? Having bagged three points after cutting out the errors made against Southampton a week ago, Athletic now sit only two points away from a Coca-Cola League One play-off place.

Athletic appear to understand exactly what can be achieved by a solid and well-structured side in this division.

You don’t pick up league points for showcasing fancy tricks or putting on goal celebrations plucked from the set of ‘Fame’.

You do get them through hard work, snippets of skill at the right moments and a strong team ethic.

Brighton — who have now lost five times at home in the league — weren’t completely outplayed and struck the woodwork twice.

Few neutrals would argue that Athletic were the better side, though, and once again a long trip south has proved fruitful.

The Athletic manager had emphasised in the build-up to the game the need to eradicate the mistakes which blighted the 3-1 home loss to Southampton a week earlier.

That is exactly what his side did. While opting to run with two strikers, Keigan Parker operating up top with Abbott, Athletic were defensively sound throughout with Alan Sheehan returning at left-back, Kelvin Lomax switching to the right and Alex Marrow giving bite to the central midfield in the absence of the injured Jon Worthington.

It was also pleasing to see Chris Taylor return on the bench after a bout of illness and injury. He got 20 minutes and helped inject fresh life into Athletic in the closing stages.

The unmistakeable voice of 1980s punk poet Attila the Stockbroker — younger readers, ask your dads — reading out the teams at the exposed but really quite pretty Withdean Stadium gave the afternoon a left-leaning slant, politically speaking.

But Oldham’s main source of attacking inspiration was decidedly right-wing. Lomax and, particularly, the energetic wide man Joe Colbeck, profited from Brighton’s lack of left-footed balance down that flank all game.

Colbeck may not have made many of his crosses count in terms of creating goalscoring chances for Abbott and Parker. However, he used the ample space afforded to him in order to propel Athletic upfield time and again and ease the pressure on his team-mates.

Not that there was a great deal of it.

Albion’s main source of inspiration came through the crosses provided by lively on-loan winger Elliott Bennett from set plays.

Thankfully, captain Sean Gregan was again a tower of strength at the heart of a mean defence full of resolve and the home fans were generally given very little to get too excited about.

Athletic kept their opponents at bay in an uneventful first half in which Colbeck’s angled shot on 26 minutes, beaten away by goalkeeper Michel Kuipers, was the best attacking moment for Dave Penney’s men.

Brighton came closest to breaking the deadlock on the half-hour, Andrew Crofts skimming the bar with a header from a Bennett corner, before the visitors took control from the start of the second half to take the lead after 57 minutes.

After Dean Furman had taken one too many touches inside the area trying to find room to get a left-footed effort away, the ball came back to the edge of the area and Abbott was able to turn well and find room to squeeze in a low shot.

On a slick surface, the ball skidded off the instep of defender Tommy Elphick and squirmed — just — past the grasp of the wrong-footed Kuipers.

Brighton very nearly pulled level just two minutes later. Rare defensive indecision saw goalkeeper Dean Brill allow a loose ball to bounce in the area and Albion striker Nicky Forster, for so long a deadly lower-league predator, beat him to it before firing a bouncing ball over when presented with an open goal.

The same player went close on two more occasions, firing wide from an acute angle and glancing a header across goal from a Bennett cross, before Athletic doubled their advantage.

Sheehan, rarely allowed the opportunity to advance due to his marshalling of Bennett, swung in a free-kick to the far post which saw the Brighton defence melt away.

With no defender in front of him, Reuben Hazell stretched to connect. His effort was straight at Kuipers but from close enough to goal to evade the full grasp of the Dutch custodian, putting the result beyond doubt 10 minutes from time.

Andy Holdsworth was introduced in the final minute for the industrious Colbeck and there was still time for Crofts to rattle the bar with a powerful header off another Bennett cross. By then, the points were already in the bag.




Gregan is different class, says Penney



DAVE Penney paid tribute to his skipper and defensive lynchpin Sean Gregan following a tough but ultimately fruitful trip south.



The veteran centre-half’s strength and dominance in the air helped Athletic gain a fifth clean sheet in seven games to eradicate memories of the great goal give-away seven days earlier against Southampton.

“Ever since he came back to the club he has been immense,” said Penney of his captain, who was let go by the club at the end of last season before coming back to pen a new deal.

“He is a different class as a person and as a leader.

“Most importantly, if that ball comes in the box, 99 times out of 100 you will see Sean Gregan heading it away.

“I was delighted with his performance and also that we got back to what we had been doing — keeping clean sheets.

“Last week, we gave them three goals. We didn’t give away any here and that is the difference between winning and losing football matches.

“I think we limited them in terms of chances. You have to stay in games when you are away from home and I thought we did that, as well as taking our own chances when they came.”

Reuben Hazell’s 81st-minute goal came from an inswinging Alan Sheehan free-kick, which was particularly pleasing for the Athletic boss.

“It was great to get a set-play goal,” he added.

“We haven’t scored from many of those and we made a point of working on them and seeing if we could get one.

“You have to take shots and as they saying goes, you have to buy raffle tickets to win the prize. If you don’t shoot you won’t score.

“We said at half-time that we hadn’t really worked the ‘keeper and we did so in the second half.”

Penney was also pleased to get injured trio Alan Sheehan, Andy Holdsworth and Chris Taylor involved once again, giving the 18-man squad more seniority than in recent weeks.

“Andy (Holdsworth) played 45 minutes in midweek behind closed doors,” Penney revealed.

“We always knew Alan (Sheehan) would be involved this week after his injury and it was nice to get Chris (Taylor) back.

“He has trained all week with the physio and he was with us on Friday, so it was nice to have him get 20 minutes under his belt.

“Chris will play in the reserves this week, get a good week of training in him and be ready for Sunday.

“It is just fitness levels now. He is clear of injuries, touch wood, and illness, touch wood.”