Dissent debut

Liam Kelly

THE FIRST booking of his career for dissent led to Liam Kelly missing a game that was made for him, but Athletic’s skipper reckons his rest-up may have done him the world of good.

Cautioned for his strong reaction to Ricardo Fuller being pulled up for a foul against Burton — it looked like a tough call by referee Eddie Ilderton — Kelly (25) was forced to sit it out as Athletic toiled to an FA Cup draw at Mansfield.

The one-match ban for the full Scotland international came as a result of five yellow cards picked up across the season so far.

But after being absent for the stodgy midfield battle at Mansfield, Kelly returns tomorrow at Chesterfield to try to inspire his side to only a second league win in 15 outings.

“I was getting onto the referee a bit and in my opinion he wasn’t having the best game, getting a few calls wrong,” said Kelly, who has been missing for six matches so far this season through injury and suspension.

“Perhaps I was a little over the top with what I said to the referee. I can’t repeat it! But I was just letting him know what I thought of a few decisions.

“I have watched the game back since and there were a few inconsistencies there.

“At least I have a chance to play in the replay now, which is good — so I haven’t really missed the game.”

At this stage of last season, Athletic were nine points better off after 16 games.

And by this point of the campaign, Jonathan Forte had netted 11 goals.

By contrast, so far this term the top scorer is danny Philliskirk with four.

Kelly reckons that if injury victim Forte had been fit and firing this term, a portion of the 10 draws picked up so far could well have been turned into victories.

“To be honest, if Jonathan Forte had been fit and scoring as he was last season then it is a different story. With the amount of draws we have had, his goals could have turned those into wins and we would find ourselves a lot higher in the table,” Kelly added.

“We have missed Jake up there as well. With his presence, he holds the ball up well and he is mobile.

“He should be back in training next week and Fortes will be a bit longer.

“Hopefully by the turn of the year we will have even more striking options and that is something we need at the moment. We need to out the ball in the back of the net.”