Tounkara discovers finishing touch

Photo: Alan Howarth

CLOSE... Athletic forward Chris Taylor reacts as an effort just misses the target.

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Athletic 2, Brentford 1

IT MUST be hell to be a defender with Oumare Tounkara around.

Just ask Brentford right-back Stephen Wright. At one point in the second-half of a contest which was more one-sided than the final score suggests, the big Athletic striker gave chase to a long, hopeful ball knocked down the left.

Wright ran back towards his own goal and despite having plenty of time to turn, he opted to hoof the ball into the main stand.

You can hardly blame the poor bloke. He must have been petrified.

With Tounkara tearing towards your back at full pelt — head back, chest out and oak tree legs hammering into the turf — dwell a moment too long and you risk being bulldozed.

A human wrecking ball? In this mood, if Athletic need any other stands knocking down they could do worse than ask Oumare to barge into them.

There is no such thing as a 50-50 ball when big Tounkara is competing with even the
roughest, most weathered centre-backs which populate the third professional tier.

But while the on-loan Sunderland player’s physicality and hold-up play have rarely been questioned in recent weeks, his finishing has come under some scrutiny.

Tounkara isn’t what Glenn Hoddle once referred to as a ‘natural-born’ goal scorer.

Sometime he snatches at chances, while on other occasions — like the Southampton home game — he fluffs golden opportunities by not quite being on the balls of his feet at crucial times.

However, the goal he scored to set Athletic on their way to a third win in four matches could be a very significant one.

For one thing, it was his second in as many matches following a true poacher’s effort at Plymouth.

And secondly, the execution — after arcing his run and bursting clear of the defence from just in front of the halfway line — was surprisingly clean, save for Brentford ’keeper Richard Lee getting his leg in the way as the ball was side-footed into the goal.

Athletic manager Paul Dickov would dearly love to bring in a 20-goal a season man to give the increasingly bright play-off prospects a further nudge in the right direction.

If big Oumare continues in this form, though, he will add plenty to his own tally which currently stands at seven.

The impact of Chris Taylor shouldn’t be underestimated, either. The man is currently dripping with confidence, constantly searching for strange angles to dart and twist his way past players with his trademark unorthodox style.

On one occasion in the first half, the left winger almost created a goal for Tounkara with a dribble along the byline that was almost identical to that which set up the first goal at Home Park last week.

And his increasingly pivotal presence in the side is matched by that of centre-back Neal Trotman.

Brentford’s experienced front line of Nicky Forster and Gary Alexander didn’t get a sniff here and it was as much due to Trotman’s effective yet unobtrusive brand of defending as it was captain Reuben Hazell’s back-to-basics approach.

Who else? Well, Kieran Lee was on his game sufficiently to keep livewire winger Myles Weston quieter than a mouse in a cattery.

Substitute Filipe Morais showed still more evidence that he can be a big weapon, firing home an emphatic goal that turned out to be crucial.

And young James Tarkowski made a couple of excellent blocks when coming onto the pitch as an injury-replacement for Trotman.

The only downside from Athletic’s viewpoint was a truly special goal from visiting substitute Robbie Simpson, whose late volley evoked memories of David Platt in Italia ’90 and gave fans, players and management a touch of the the collywobbles.

Athletic took a while to get going.

Tounkara bundled his way into the area early on, but failed to get a shot away and Warren Feeney — who grafted away well until he was taken off due to injury shortly after half-time — headed over from the centre of the penalty area.

Brentford were happy to dig in and aim for the head of Alexander up front, but they caused few problems.

Tounkara poked another effort wide after brushing aside a couple of defenders, and he should have done better than blasting high and wide after controlling a wayward Dale Stephens volley.

Then came the opening goal, which owed plenty to good play in the build-up by Feeney and a neat slid pass from Taylor.

Leon Legge headed across the face of goal from a Craig Woodman free-kick, but Athletic could have been two-up before half-time when Taylor’s cut-back wasn’t quite strong enough to find Tounkara before being intercepted.

The home team started the second half the way they ended the first, snapping into challenges and generally being the far more alert of the sides on show.

Ritchie Jones fired a couple of yards over after a corner was half-cleared and Morais showed his skill after coming on by stepping over the ball and producing a great cross which Taylor couldn’t quite reach properly to convert.

The Portuguese winger forced Lee to bat the ball behind with an effort from range before at the other end, a header from debutant Owain Tudor-Jones drifted only a foot wide of the far post.

Morais made it two for Athletic after taking on a pass from Tounkara, cutting inside onto his right foot and slamming the ball inside the near post of Lee.

The same player then had an effort cleared off the line by Woodman after Tounkara’s shot had been blocked by Lee’s legs.

Stephens nearly made a third after racing into the area, only to square the ball a foot too far in front of Dean Furman.

Simpson’s excellent finish halved the deficit and there were a few dicey moments for Athletic which were settled by timely blocks and interceptions, but this was a merited three points.