Philliskirk seals victory as Fleetwood waste chances

NOWHERE TO GO . . . Dominic Poleon is trapped by a Fleetwood pincer movement.

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Athletic 1, Fleetwood 0

SLOPPY, wasteful and lucky are not terms usually associated with the collection of three points, but under-par Athletic were all of those things and more in seeing off Fleetwood.

Visiting boss Graham Alexander bemoaned an ungiven penalty deep into added time. It did appear that Connor Brown tangled with David Ball in the box, as an on-edge crowd held their breath.

But referee Christopher Sarginson was unmoved. For balance, it should be pointed out Lee Croft missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 after the interval. As hard-working and popular as he is, the winger last scored in this country on October 3, 2009 - for Derby.

Fleetwood in particular mumbled their lines when well-placed to find the net, but both teams look in need of a lesson or three at finishing school.

Athletic's apparent glut of forward options suddenly looks a little flimsy given the injury sustained by the man everything revolves around, tireless centre-forward Jake Cassidy. Without him, Rhys Turner showed up well enough as a lone striker after coming on only 13 minutes in, but despite setting up the winning goal, he is surely more suited to playing alongside a fellow forward with more meat on his bones. Jonathan Forte came on for the latter stages and still appeared a little subdued.

Collectively, Athletic's focus was off all afternoon, particularly so in the first six minutes. Runners weren't tracked, tackles failed to be made and Fleetwood – beaten at home by Hartlepool in midweek – had several chances to score.

Setting up with Dominic Poleon on the left of three players supporting Cassidy, Athletic's plans weren't helped when the former Wolves man exited the fray in obvious pain.

Conor McLaughlin, the best player on the pitch, tested Coleman's reflexes after an overlapping run, which was not tracked, and a fizzing low near-post shot.

Athletic finally offered a response when Brown produced a dangerous cross and Turner almost played in Philliskirk before the two linked up for their match-winner.

Five minutes into the second half, Fleetwood missed another golden chance when Bobby Grant was left unmarked; but fluffed his volley after McLaughlin had picked him out.

Croft similarly failed to register from a lovely Joseph Mills centre, but by this stage Athletic were at least reasonably solid and had started to move the ball around with more zip.

Danny Andrew was the latest man to fail to beat Coleman on the hour, left alone as the ball was delivered from the left with Athletic's defence all at sea.

And the Cod Army ended the game as the stronger team, too. Forte saw one effort on the break blocked by a defender's legs, but Alexander's side were virtually camped in Athletic's half as the clock ticked down.

All hands were called to the pump and the final whistle came as a huge relief. Poor but extremely grateful, Athletic now have four points from two matches.



twitter: @Matt_Chambers_