Young guns must get streetwise

LET’S DO THIS AGAIN . . . Paul Dickov and Peter Reid, pictured before Athletic’s 4-2 win at Boundary Park earlier in the season, will lock horns again at Home Park tomorrow.

PAUL Dickov held a two-hour meeting with his players to discuss how best to bounce back from the 6-0 loss to Southampton — and emerged more confident than ever in their ability.

But, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Plymouth Argyle, the Athletic chief has warned that he is going to stop using the ‘young side’ excuse to explain defeats.

“We wanted to analyse what went wrong against Southampton and spent at least a couple of hours talking to the boys,” said the Scot.

“Losing so heavily came as a shock because I felt we had half a chance of getting a (positive) result.

“But this is a great bunch of lads. I stand by them because there is a hunger within them, and the meeting we had only backed that up.

“We can definitely bounce back but, while they should keep their youthful confidence, they need to get rid of the youthful mentality.

“There needs to be a bit more mental toughness at times.

“I know we have got a young squad, but I am not going to keep using that as an excuse.

“What you need to do sometimes is go right back to basics, and do the simple things right. You build from there.

“We have come a long way since the start of the season. We are a couple of points away from the play-off places and on Saturday night I want to us to be in the mix.”

Dickov is wary of the threat his former team-mate Bradley Wright-Phillips poses.

The younger brother of Manchester City and England winger Shaun was on target in the Pilgrims’ 4-2 defeat at Boundary Park earlier in the season.

He has missed their last two games as he tried to finalise a move to Reading.

But that has since fallen through due to unspecified medical reasons, and he is in line for a return to Peter Reid’s starting line-up.

Dickov said: “I know Bradley well from my time at Manchester City. He played well against us at Boundary Park earlier in the season.

“Bradley is a good player and even though his move to Reading did not happen, he is more than capable of making it at a higher level.

“But Reidy has a lot of good players, it is not just about what Bradley can do.

“People have said to me this week that we should go there and try not to lose, but I believe we can win the game.

“We must cut out the mistakes, though, and defend as a team, all the way from the goalkeeper to the front.”

The manager insists any changes to the side will not be a knee-jerk reaction to the loss to Southampton, but an attempt to freshen things up after a hectic npower League One schedule.

“We have played four games in a short amount of time,” he said. “There are no injuries, just a few niggles from the last match and some tired legs.

“Hopefully, Aidan White will recover from his ankle knock and rejoin us from Leeds.”