Central defence a priority for Kelly

Photo: -ALAN HOWARTH

FOOD FOR THOUGHT . . . Athletic boss Darren Kelly views last night’s action, while trialists Jimmy Keohane (yellow top) and Jack Mmaee (yellow boots) look on.

DARREN Kelly hopes to have his problem centre-back area settled “very soon”, after his side played at Halifax last night with two more new faces.

With James Wilson suffering a slight neck injury and Gavin Gunning ill, Kelly felt it unfair to put first-year pro George Edmundson in the side as he hones his starting line-up for the opening game of the season at Walsall a week on Saturday.

Instead, Athletic brought in former Stockport, Celtic and Rochdale defender Josh Thompson (24), released by Colchester at the end of last season, to work alongside another trialist, former Motherwell man Fraser Kerr (22).

Kerr, who began his career with Birmingham, netted an unfortunate own goal in the 2-1 win but both men didn’t do much wrong and Thompson in particular was a danger in set pieces.

Lee Croft was also missing through illness and though Dominic Poleon and Jake Cassidy remained sidelined, Athletic produced by far their best performance of pre-season in dominating Halifax in the first half.

Gunning is still at the club without a contract. With the final pre-season friendly approaching (Carlisle on Saturday), Kelly wants a solution to his problem area soon.

“We are constantly on the look-out,” said Athletic’s manager, who only introduced Thompson and Kerr to the squad yesterday. “We understand we had only one signed centre-back with George Edmundson and he has been fantastic in the off season, but it would have been unfair to put him in there.

“We have been working hard behind the scenes to correct that and make sure it is right for the first league game of the season. With James Wilson, he will be key to what we want to do in that centre-back area.”

Kelly is guarded about the futures of Thompson and Kerr: “We’ll look at it,” he added. “They came in and did well, but we will look at how things go over the next couple of days.”

Athletic fielded five players on trial last night. Jimmy Keohane again featured from the bench and there new faces up front: former PSV Eindhoven under-19s man Ryan Hiwat (19), who replaced Jonathan Forte for the second half and showed promise, and Jack Mmaee, a Belgian forward who displayed some tidy touches.

“It is important to get that winning feeling with a couple of games to go,” said Kelly

twitter: @Matt_Chambers_