Professional job delights boss Dickov

A SOLID and professional performance was the perfect ending to a tough week for Athletic manager Paul Dickov.

Punished heavily by Southampton to the tune of six unanswered goals in midweek, the long trip to face Plymouth at Home Park was always going to provide a stiff examination of the team’s character.

Thanks to goals from Dale Stephens — his eighth of the season — and Oumare Tounkara, the visitors claimed three excellent points in Devon.

As well as helping ease the pain of three defeats in the previous four matches in npower League One, the result lifted Athletic back to the verge of the play-offs in eighth place with an attractive set of fixtures in store in the coming weeks.

“This is a very difficult place to come to at the best of times, never mind after a 6-0 defeat,” said Dickov.

“We have been saying all week that I believe in these boys. I think they have got a lot of character.

“We had a good chat on Wednesday (the day after Southampton) and said it was all about coming here and giving a professional performance.

“We were excellent all over the pitch.

“Not many teams will come here and win and we knew that. But we knew we had to keep our shape and keep doing the right things.

“We freshened it up a little bit and gave ourselves a little bit more energy.

“We knew our chances would come.”

Two changes to the starting line-up saw Ritchie Jones and Warren Feeney kicking off the game with Cedric Evina and Filipe Morais on the substitutes’ bench and Chris Taylor moved to a position on the left of midfield.

It resulted in a far more solid Athletic side. And Dickov praised the efforts of hard-working Feeney and his strike partner Tounkara.

“Feens was fantastic,” added Dickov. “It has not gone as well as he would have expected (for him), but we believe in him.

“He has had disruptions, going away with Northern Ireland and injuries, and this, that and the other thing.

“We have been looking to get him back in for a while. He has looked sharp in training and is back up to full fitness now.

“He has worked hard and if you do that for me in training you will get a chance.

“We played a lot of good stuff in the second half. Chris (Taylor) has done ever so well playing down the middle, but we felt that with him out wide here, he could get at the full-back.

“We wanted him to get at the full-back every time he got the ball, because we know that Chris has got the ability to set up goals.

“It is great to see midfielders coming into the box and putting it away.

“We have been saying to Oumare, ‘you work as hard as you can and keep doing the right things and you will get your rewards’.

“We want him to be a bit more alive in the box — sometimes when he has chances, he acts as they arrive whereas we want him on his toes a bit more.

“He did that here and got his rewards for a hard-working performance.

“If we can have a good base and put on a professional performance then we have got the players in the team who can win us games.”

Plymouth manager Peter Reid lamented his team’s third successive defeat.

“We played some decent stuff, but goals change games and there were a couple of good chances which we didn’t stick away,” he said.

“The lads have put in a good shift, but we got caught cold at the beginning of the second half and unfortunately we conceded.”


Latics’ next game— Saturday (v Brentford, home, npower League One)