22nd February 2000    

Reserves switched!
Miskelly staying put

ATHLETIC have had to ditch their plans to send goalkeeper David Miskelly out on loan. An injury to third-choice stopper Jamie Campbell means Miskelly will spend the rest of the season at Boundary Park. The Northern Ireland under-21 star has been unable to make the breakthrough due to Gary Kelly’s form as first-team number one. He is consistently impressive in the reserves but has managed only two league appearances, plus one in this season’s Worthington Cup. Miskelly himself was hungry for more experience and recently spoke to manager Andy Ritchie about a short-term move. Ritchie agreed and was happy to have Campbell, a giant 19-year-old Scot, as Kelly’s back-up in the senior side. But Campbell has now dislocated a finger in training and will be out of action for up to six weeks. As the transfer deadline is four weeks on Thursday, there is no hope of Miskelly being free to move before the end of the season. 

Said Ritchie: “We were both quite keen for David to go to another club for a while, but it’s one of those things. We just have to bite the bullet and maybe look at next season instead.” With the transfer deadline looming closer, Athletic are hoping to offload some of their fringe players to finance a signing of their own. Ritchie is still trying to reduce the wage bill and, for the moment, loan signings are probably the limit of his ambitions. It is unlikely that a striker will be brought in before Saturday’s home match against promotion-chasing Bristol Rovers. Though Ritchie remains on the look-out, Craig Dudley’s return to fitness has come at just the right time. The reserve-team match at Huddersfield has been switched from tomorrow night to Thursday afternoon, with a 2 pm kick-off. 

Athletic have set a date for their Manchester Senior Cup tie at Manchester United and will play at The Cliff on Thursday, April 6, again starting at 2 pm. 

COMEBACK kid Craig Dudley knows he has a fight on his hands to cement a permanent place in Athletic’s attack. But the exciting young striker hopes to put an unshakable case to boss Andy Ritchie — using the language of goals. Dudley celebrated his first league start for over three months on Saturday by scoring Athletic’s killer third at Wrexham. He has now hit five goals in 10 full games, achieving a strike rate which many see as the mark of a good forward. Dudley said: “I’m getting a goal every other game and I’m pleased with that. “Overall contribution is the most important thing for any player, but you’re also judged on your scoring record when you’re a centre-forward. “It’s very competitive up front, with Paul Beavers getting fitter and Mark Allott and Matthew Tipton still to come back. “You have to give everything in every game because you know there’s always someone waiting to take your place. “I experienced that myself when I had a run of nine games and then got a thigh injury. “I wasn’t out for long, but I couldn’t get back in the side because Steve Whitehall and Mark Allott were doing so well. “That’s very disappointing, but all you can do is wait for your chance and take it — which I’ve had to again since I got a foot injury in the Auto Windscreens Shield last month.“It was a bonus getting called up for Wrexham on Saturday and an even bigger bonus to be in the team from the start. “Scoring a goal in my comeback game was just unbelievable, especially when we got such a good result.” 

Despite his lack of matches — he had played less than two hours of competitive football in a month — Dudley was confident he could pierce the Wrexham defence. He did exactly that after 73 minutes, using his most explosive asset when Paul Rickers sent through a pinpoint through-ball. Dudley recalled: “I thought I had a chance of scoring because I was troubling the defence with my pace. “I was getting out wide quite effectively early doors and there was space in behind, as well. “All kinds of things go through your mind when you’re one on one with the ‘keeper. “The pressure is on because everyone expects you to score, so you have to assess the situation really quickly. “It’s a matter of whether you shoot early or decide to go round him — and I was actually going to shoot. “But the ball was moving too quickly and I had to change my mind. It felt great when I touched it past him and had time to put the ball in the net.” The partnership between Dudley and Whitehall worked well on Saturday, with both strikers getting a goalscoring reward.

It was only the second time they had started a game up front together and, when Dudley went off near the end, their respect for each others’ hard work was shown by a warm handshake. With Allott injured and Tipton banned, they look sure to have more time to develop their understanding. For now, however, Dudley is delighted just to be on the pitch, rather than the treatment table. “I’m still three or four games from being fully match fit,” he added. “Saturday was my first full match since before Christmas. “Bearing that in mind, it was a bit of a relief to get through it. “I was pretty knackered at the end — but I was pretty happy, as well.”

THE curse of Stoke City is set to strike again, with the league match at Boundary Park under serious threat of postponement. Already this season, Athletic games against the Potteries club have been delayed due to motorway traffic and abandoned in a power failure. The latest problem is Stoke’s progress in the Auto Windscreens Shield, a competition in which they beat Athletic earlier this year. They are through to the northern-area final and victory would lead to a day out at Wembley. The date for that match is April 16 — one day after they are due to play at Boundary Park. As their northern final opponents will be one of Carlisle, Rochdale or Hartlepool, Stoke are red-hot favourites to reach the Shield’s showpiece occasion.

THERE are mixed fortunes for Athletic’s cast-offs as they search for the moves which could re-launch their careers. Striker David McNiven, who is on a month’s loan at Nationwide Conference club Scarborough, marked his home debut on Saturday with a superb solo goal. Defender Iain Swan’s temporary home is Leigh RMI — the Unibond League club from which Paul Jones joined Athletic — and their 5-0 weekend win put them two points clear at the top of the premier division. But full-back Ian McLean, whose one trial game for Telford ended in a 6-0 defeat, was not thought up to Conference standard is now back at Boundary Park.

FORMER Athletic striker Sean McCarthy notched his 200th career goal on Saturday when he put Plymouth 2-0 up against York. McCarthy (32), who scored 46 times during his spell at Boundary Park, has kept up an excellent strike rate throughout his career with Swansea, Plymouth (twice), Bradford, Athletic and Bristol City. Plymouth manager Kevin Hodges said: “He’s sometimes a little slow and he gets stick from some of the supporters. “But we look a better side when he’s in the team. His hold-up play is very good.”

ATHLETIC’S record of four clean sheets in five games during January brought a double reward for Shaun Garnett. As well as being named Lookers player of the month, the big defender made Match magazine’s top 10 players in the second division. The chart is based on ratings for each performance during the month and Garnett averaged 7.6 out of 10. BEFORE losing heavily to Athletic on Saturday, Wrexham had hammered Merthyr Tydfil 8-0 in the Welsh FA Cup to make it seven straight wins in the competition. The quarter-final tie at the Racecourse Ground was watched by 390 people — with a rather sad total of 11 in the away end. Those Merthyr fans, diehards though they must have been, probably wished they hadn’t bothered. Wrexham have won the Welsh Cup a record 23 times, while their run this season has featured 26 goals scored and only one conceded.

IT has been a busy few days for Athletic’s youngsters as they attempt to finish in the top three of the Football League Youth Alliance. But their fate is still undecided after a week featuring one victory, one defeat and one postponement. A place in the first three of the North-West Conference would put them in the top merit division, providing the chance to test themselves against some of the best young teams around. Athletic hoped to clinch qualification in their match against Burnley yesterday, but the game had to be called off because of an unfit pitch. A draw or a win would have made it mission accomplished as only Burnley can halt the progress of the Boundary Park side. Athletic are second in the North-West table, with seven wins and four draws in 16 games, and are hoping to take the runners-up spot behind Bury. On Saturday, three goals in 10 minutes gave Athletic a convincing victory over Tranmere. After a close first half ended 0-0, talented Scotsman Gerry McLoughlin fired them ahead when he intercepted a pass and, with the Tranmere ’keeper off his line, smashed a 45-yard drive into the top corner. Darren Wardle sent Jon Froggatt through for the second before Wardle himself headed the third. Tranmere pulled back a consolation goal but it was not enough. In midweek, Athletic suffered a 2-1 reverse at Carlisle. Although the weather and pitch made conditions tough, Athletic were on course for a draw until a costly incident in the last minute. Goalkeeper Tom Whittle did well to save a Carlisle penalty but, as the ball was cleared, an Athletic player was pulled up for dissent. The referee gave an indirect free-kick in the area and Carlisle took advantage by grabbing their winner. Earlier, Athletic had taken a first-half lead through Darren Wardle.

Speaking to the press after the game, Brian Flynn said that it was "Wrexham's worst performance in years" and that he was "a professional and had to take the criticism". He also added that he'd be looking to strengthen his squad early next week, but gave no indication whether he would buy or look for players on-loan. In the opening 5 minutes of the game Karl Connolly had a good chance for Wrexham, but 6 minutes later they fall behind to a Richard Graham header. A Karl Connolly headed clearance gave Oldham a corner on the right, which Steve Whitehall took. Some slack Wrexham marking let Richard Graham round the back to head past a static Kevin Dearden. Oldham's impressive Lee Duxbury then put a powerful header narrowly wide, after some good work by Craig Dudley and Neil Adams.  Steve Whitehall also had a shot blocked by a packed Wrexham defence. In reply to the visitors attacks, the only real chances Wrexham had in the first-half were when Andy Morrell raced through on the left and finished with an angled shot which Oldham keeper Gary Kelly could only parry and save at the second attempt, and also when Paul Barrett sent a rising header over the bar.

Wrexham were booed off the pitch at half-time and they brought on Craig Faulconbridge and Robin Gibson for the second-half, to replace Danny Williams and Andy Morrell. However, before the Wrexham substitutes could make their mark, the game was effectively ended 6 minutes into the second-half, when Steve Whitehall added Oldham's second. Paul Rickers dispossessed Gareth Owen in midfield, raced through on the left and then put in a low cross for Whitehall to run in unmarked for an easy tap-in.  Wrexham skipper Brian Carey was injured in this move and limped off.   However, he returned to the action a few minutes later. Left-back Deryn Brace, expressing the Wrexham players frustration with today's proceedings, was then booked for a rugby style tackle on an Oldham player. Oldham's Neil Adams then had a shot which Carey headed off the line.

But Craig Dudley put the final nail in Wrexham's coffin, when Paul Rickers put a great through ball for Craig Dudley. Again some poor Wrexham defending allowed Craig Dudley to skip round Kevin Dearden and finish with an angled shot inside the far corner. Steve Whitehall almost added a fourth, but his shot was scrambled away by Kevin Dearden. Wrexham's best chance of the second-half fell to their man-of-the-match, Karl Connolly, who headed against the crossbar. So with Oxford United winning again today, and Blackpool too, Wrexham continue their stumble towards the relegation zone. The Robins now lie in 19th place in the table, 3 points and 2 places above the drop.