Passion play

David Dunn: wants passion from his payers.

DAVID Dunn has demanded plenty of derby passion from his players as they gear up for tomorrow’s crunch home league battle of the Athletics.

A cracking atmosphere is pretty much guaranteed as Oldham and Wigan go head to head for the first time in 12 years, in what will be Dunn’s first home game in charge.

A Lancashire lad himself from Blackburn, the Oldham boss is targeting a big-match performance.

“I love derbies. These games are what football is all about for a lot of the North-West clubs,” he said.

“They bring the best out of players, and they should. If you’re a player with a good mentality you ought to thrive off featuring in these big games. That’s certainly the response I’m after from our players tomorrow.”

There has been healthy competition for starting places in the Athletic squad this week following the arrival of three new players, full-back Richard Eckersley, midfielder Jay Fulton and striker Michael Higdon.

The trio will come into contention tomorrow, but Dunn is still actively chasing new blood. Reports today are that front-men Ricardo Fuller and Febian Brandy are training with Athletic, and both are currently free agents.

Dunn said: “I’m not going to lie, I would have to add a couple more new faces, though I think you can already see that there’s a real competition for places in the squad now.

“We’re still one or two off being really competitive, and if we can see to that we’ll be there or thereabouts.”

As well as Eckersley, Fulton and Higdon coming into the reckoning for tomorrow, skipper Liam Kelly is available again having recovered following a month out with a knee injury. But defender Joseph Mills is still a major doubt with an ankle injury and Eoghan O’Connell may need treatment at parent club Celtic for an injury. Striker Jonathan Forte will complete his three-game ban tomorrow.