Strike duo look effective

The Latics wizard writes every week for Chron Sport

SCUNTHORPE claimed this week that they should be picking up wins against teams like Athletic.

There is no doubt Athletic goes into the game with the same aspirations. We need to win and I am sure that if we play like we did at Gillingham, we will get the three points.

A major plus point lately has been the form of our front two. Michael Higdon is a handful, winning his fair share of headers and holding up the ball as a target man while also scoring goals — very good ones at that.

Dominic Poleon is on a great run too and seems to have found a new lease of life. It might be that such a pairing is exactly what we have been lacking.

It is a cliché, but what we need to do now, using that fire power, is to turn our home ground into a fortress. David Dunn became the club’s new manager this week and it has been brilliant working under him. The training has been intense and we have worked a lot on those things he feels we need to improve on.

I believe that on the training pitch and out on the field in games, we are moving forward. The gaffer has a lot of really good contacts in the game and that helps when bringing in good players. He has that pull as well, from who he is and what he has done in his career — players will naturally want to play for him.

With the squad he has it is possible to mix things up to keep players fresh. I was rested at Gillingham until I came on in the second half and it was a very good performance from us at what is a difficult ground.

Once things start to go our way, we can string a number of results together and climb up the

division.

Gillingham were third when the game began - but I don’t think anyone who saw the game will believe they are a better side than us.