Hotte doubt for Layer Road trip

DEFENDER Mark Hotte is a big doubt for Athletic’s trip to Colchester tomorrow after picking up a nasty ankle knock at the weekend. Hotte (21) was taken to hospital during Saturday’s game against Peterborough, adding injury to insult as Athletic were hammered 4-1 at Boundary Park. Club staff were concerned that Hotte had suffered serious damage while making a block, but X-rays allayed their initial fears. As the ankle was still very sore today, Athletic may have to rule out their pacy centre-back before making the long trip to Layer Road. 

They are fortunate that Scott McNiven has recovered fully from a broken cheekbone and is ready to step into the breach. McNiven is a natural replacement in the back three, but Stuart Thom’s loan spell at Scunthorpe means Athletic are again short of cover at the back. It would be the first time Athletic’s defence has been disrupted this season, although manager Andy Ritchie may have made changes anyway after Saturday’s hammering. Having started in style against Port Vale, they have slipped up twice in a week and conceded seven goals in two league games. Ritchie admitted Peterborough deserved to win. He said: “After getting back into it, we shot ourselves in the foot again. The game at Colchester is a chance for us to put things right.” 

PETERBOROUGH manager Barry Fry is colourful, ebullient and gets straight to the point. His team reflected that perfectly in a stunning smash-and-grab raid on Boundary Park. And the mauling could have been even worse for shell-shocked Athletic. Four goals — every one of them scored on the break — were fair reward for promoted Posh as they used electrifying pace to destroy opponents who, amazingly, had a bigger share of the game. It was a superb example of how to play away from home. But Athletic gave them a big helping hand and can’t afford many repeats of the disordered defending they produced on Saturday. Watching Athletic is certainly eventful these days. Three games into the league season, there have been 15 goals and at least as many wasted chances. They created plenty more openings here, but they were powder-puff jabs which left barely a bruise on Peterborough’s defence. All the sucker punches came from the visitors. Athletic looked dazed and confused. And the team who emerged so brightly for round one of the season must now raise themselves from the canvas or risk losing the impetus they have spent so long building up.

Athletic’s downfall was that they couldn’t cope with a three-pronged Posh attack which left them strung out like washing at the back. Each of the livewire forwards — Andy Clarke, Francis Green and the inspirational David Farrell — were quick and direct, running at the defence and getting them on the turn whenever possible. Even the pacy Mark Hotte struggled until going off injured, while goalkeeper Gary Kelly was all too often left exposed with precious little cover. Athletic were also short of numbers, showing that a 3-5-2 formation must be flexible and see the wing-backs help out when necessary. In the games before this one, both Neil Adams and Andrew Holt had launched countless raids into enemy territory, playing like old-fashioned wingers as much as defenders. That needed to change here, but Adams in particular could rarely make up the ground to venture back. Athletic were caught out time and again. And, as their goals demonstrated, Peterborough were ideally equipped to make use of the space being granted. Athletic were also second best in midfield, where their chief scrappers, Lee Duxbury and Paul Rickers, were well below their combative best. Danny Boshell faded after a promising start, and with him went most of his side’s creativity on a day when only Kelly and the hard-working Mark Allott escaped blame at either end of the pitch.

Ironically, Athletic almost made a dream start through Carlo Corazzin, who turned well after a Paul Jones header and forced Peterborough ’keeper Mark Tyler to save with his legs. There was only a minute on the clock, but Corazzin’s chance was typical of the early stages as the hosts — unchanged after beating Huddersfield in midweek — again looked lively. After mascot Chaddy Owl was banished, head bowed, from the touchline — a linesman was confusing the six-foot synthetic bird with Athletic’s forwards — Allott hit a volley straight at Tyler. The clearest opening, though, fell to Posh when Richie Hanlon picked up on the first defensive mishap and made a hash of his close-range header. Both sides were trying to be positive, with Clarke a constant menace for Peterborough and Boshell instigating most of Athletic’s best moves. Corazzin called Tyler into action once again but, for all the good intentions, there was a lack of end product until Peterborough delivered their first breakaway blow of the game. The opener, after 27 minutes, stemmed from a superb 80-yard run by Farrell, who left Jones skinned and roasted down the left and hurtled deep into Athletic’s area. The speed of the move caught the hosts flat-footed, allowing Clarke, one of the few people who could keep up, to find yards of space and side-foot calmly beyond Kelly.

Within 70 seconds, the visitors had struck again. And the rampant Farrell was the hero for a second time. Finding plenty of room behind Adams, he swung over a cross to Green lurking eight yards from goal. Green still had plenty to do, but he found a classic finish by twisting in mid-air to send a horizontal header flashing inside Kelly’s near post. Athletic tried to hit back when Boshell’s long-range free-kick was clawed away, but Peterborough were revelling in their role as the surprise package of the season so far. And they should have made it 3-0 before half-time as Hanlon planted a header over the top, once again from an unmarked position. Although they needed Simon Rea’s clearance to keep out an Allott header, Posh remained in command after the break. They were content to soak up the pressure and Athletic couldn’t fashion another opening until both Corazzin and Allott were denied in the 78th minute. Athletic found some hope three minutes later thanks to a goal from lively substitute Matthew Tipton. Tyler flapped at Holt’s left-wing cross and, when the ball was headed back across by Adams, Tipton was on hand for the simplest of tap-ins. Yet the visitors’ response was rapid and deadly as they re-opened their two-goal lead after 84 minutes.

Farrell was again behind it, cutting in from the left to hit a cross-cum-shot which Kelly looked likely to claim. Jones tried to clear the danger with a swing of his right boot, only to slice the ball embarrassingly and register a clumsy own goal which summed up his day. Athletic’s misery was complete in stoppage time when sub Guy Whittingham, signed on loan from Portsmouth 24 hours earlier, marked his Posh debut with the fourth. Clarke raced through as Athletic threw everything into attack and, after Kelly saved the first shot, Whittingham tucked away the rebound with an appropriate flourish.

ATHLETIC boss Andy Ritchie insisted his players would bounce back quickly from the 4-1 drubbing handed out by newly-promoted Peterborough. He admitted Athletic had been soundly beaten but said their second successive league defeat was no cause for alarm. Ritchie stressed: “We will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and get on with it. “It was a bad day, but we will try to shake it off and get back to better things at Colchester this week. “Sometimes you have to hold up your hands up and say you deserved to lose. And we didn’t deserve anything from this game. “We have had a brief but eventful discussion in the dressing room and there’s a whole new batch of things for us to work on.” 

Posh proved unstoppable with their rapid counter-attacking style and Ritchie felt Athletic played into their hands. He said: “They played on the break and won on the break. It was all they did for the whole game. “Every chance they had came from our play breaking down from a corner, a free-kick or on the edge of the box. And we didn’t handle their pace. “David Farrell caused the damage all afternoon so we told the lads to get closer, but they still gave him 20 yards to run at them. “He is a clever player and he just knocked it past them and used his pace. “We didn’t get the ball down and play as we did against Huddersfield, but Peterborough showed a few cracks when we managed to get among them. “We made chances, but everything seemed to be in the right spot for their ’keeper. “Everything was smacked straight at him and it might have been different if we had put our shots a yard or two either side.”

Posh manager Barry Fry heaped praise on his team after they made it two wins out of two on their travels. He said: “It was an outstanding display. Oldham isn’t an easy place to come, but we played some excellent football and we are really flying now. “We had Oldham watched twice beforehand and we worked out a plan to play on their weaknesses. It worked well for us on the break because the lads up front are tremendously quick. “My heart was beating a bit when it was 2-1, but we always looked likely to open them up. “No-one else in this league will come here and do that to Oldham, so I’m really pleased for my lads. They don’t get the credit they deserve."