6th September 2000   

Latics draw Owl's

ATHLETIC’S surprise victory at Huddersfield last night has put them on course for a valuable Worthington Cup windfall. The cash-strapped club go into tonight’s second-round draw, which is screened live on Sky at around 10.45, with every chance of landing a tie against a Premiership side. The draw is seeded and Athletic are guaranteed to meet one of the top-25-ranked clubs, 13 of them from the money-laden elite, including Newcastle, Sunderland and Manchester City. It gives them the chance of a major financial boost, especially as second-round ties are played over two legs. Last night’s result, completing a 3-0 aggregate win over first-division Town, delighted manager Andy Ritchie, as well as the bank manager. 

Ritchie said: “It was excellent. Huddersfield had a lot of injuries, but even with a full complement I don’t think they would have beaten us. “The difference between last night and Saturday (when Athletic lost at home to Notts County) was so much like chalk and cheese it’s unbelievable. “I can’t explain it, but it was a big help that we passed to each other and actually kept the ball between the white lines.” Midfielder Danny Boshell missed the game with a stomach strain but is expected to recover for the weekend trip to Wrexham. Meanwhile, striker Paul Beavers is poised to complete his free-transfer move to Darlington. It ends a disappointing Athletic career for the 21-year-old, who started only two games after signing from Sunderland. Beavers has been on trial at Darlington, who are expected to give him a contract to the end of the season. As Beavers leaves, Athletic are planning to sign Irish defender Barry Prenderville (23) from Dublin club St Pat’s. 

Prenderville, who is a free agent, was at Coventry early in his career and has impressed in two trials at Boundary Park. He could play for the reserves tonight in an Avon Insurance League match against West Brom at Stalybridge Celtic’s Bower Fold (7 o’clock). 

Reserves (from): Miskelly, Tait, Smith, McLaughlin, Futcher, Innes, Dudley, Walsh, Tipton, Whitehall, Sugden, Doran, Campbell, Otto, Clarke, Donnelly, Prenderville. 

IT may not qualify as a giant-killing act, but Athletic were justly proud of themselves last night after dumping first-division Huddersfield out of the Worthington Cup. Defending a slim advantage from the first leg, they were never in danger of sacrificing their lead and could have left the McAlpine Stadium with a bigger aggregate victory than 3-0. Paul Rickers stole the show with a goal in each half — his first of the season to make him joint-top scorer. The unsung midfielder was one of several stars for Andy Ritchie’s underdogs, who refused to let go once they had sunk their teeth into Steve Bruce’s limping Terriers. Not for the first time, it almost defied belief that Athletic could be so utterly transformed from their previous match. X-rated on Saturday, excellent three days later — no wonder Ritchie confessed: “I’m flabbergasted. We’re like Jekyll and Hyde and I can’t put my finger on the reason.” One of the keys was Scott McNiven, who moved from centre-back to the heart of midfield when Danny Boshell failed a fitness test.

Injury-hit Huddersfield played two wingers, including former Boundary Park youngster David Beresford, but the plan backfired and, with Athletic crowding them out, they didn’t force Gary Kelly into a single difficult save. Tactically, Athletic’s performance was just about spot on. The main strand of their plan — to outnumber and out-fight their opponents in the middle — stifled Huddersfield and frustrated them for the entire 90 minutes. Much credit for that must go to Ritchie, but all any manager can do is give out instructions and hope for the best. The players executed his ploy superbly, turning things round dramatically after the dire defeat to Notts County. Central to everything was McNiven, who brought a calm authority and high work rate to his side’s play. Rickers and Lee Duxbury busied themselves well and, unusually, Athletic didn’t look to one midfielder for most of their creativity. The outcome shows what a difference that made.

They were equally well-drilled in defence, where Shaun Garnett was a tower of strength and everything was done as a unit. And, completing the all-round picture, both Mark Allott and Carlo Corazzin showed an exemplary attitude up front with their unselfish, determined running. It may have helped Athletic that the atmosphere was more akin to a testimonial than a cup tie — at least until the away fans began to celebrate and the home crowd vented its anger. Abysmal Huddersfield were jeered off the pitch — although the only calls of “Bruce out” came from the visitors’ end — but they were victims of a thoroughly efficient performance from Athletic. It took time for the game to find any rhythm, a fact which suited Athletic as they didn’t want their opponents to settle. When Huddersfield did pose a threat in the 14th minute, Ben Thornley met his shot all wrong after latching on to a looping ball from Dean Gorre. Athletic had the better chances all night, the first coming when Garnett’s bullet header sent Allott scampering clear of a square home defence. The striker did everything right as he set himself to shoot, only to blast wide from 12 yards when he should have at least hit the target.

Athletic were holding their own comfortably, though Huddersfield began to make better inroads once talented Dutchman Gorre saw more of the ball. The visitors burst into attack at the midway point of the half when Corazzin’s goalbound header was cleared from six yards out, and Rickers fired a long-range drive just over. When Martin Smith chipped marginally off target on the half-hour, it was a sign that neither side was totally secure when players found space in the ‘hole’ between midfield and attack. But it didn’t take any clever running or tactical cunning for Athletic to grab their all-important lead in the 40th minute. Good, old-fashioned grit was at the heart of the move, with Neil Adams winning a 50-50 challenge against Jamie Vincent wide on Athletic’s right. Adams advanced to the by-line and, with men coming in from all angles, had plenty of team-mates to look for. Rickers was the recipient and his late arrival meant no defender was close enough to stop a simple close-range header finding a gaping Huddersfield net. Rickers had a half-chance just after the break as the hosts continued to look shaky, disjointed and dispirited. But they could have had a penalty in the 55th minute when Smith claimed he was held back by Kelly — and probably had a case.

That was their last chance of a lifeline because, nine minutes later, Athletic made certain of their passage thanks to the ever-willing Rickers. A right-wing free-kick was only half-cleared and Rickers, loitering with intent on the edge of the box, drilled it low into the bottom corner to kill off the tie as a contest. An audacious 30-yard shot by Adams clipped the crossbar to spare Huddersfield and the under-fire Bruce an even more embarrassing scoreline. Athletic are through to round two for the first time in four years and, on last night’s form, they can go further. The way things are looking, it just depends on their mood.

"Sadly, some of them didn't do that last night and that's not good enough. Yes, we had eight senior pros out but that's not an excuse, I still expect Huddersfield Town to have enough to be better than losing 2-0 at home to Oldham in the manner we did last night. "We have no excuses for playing like that. It was very, very, poor and dismal stuff and Oldham were better than us all over the pitch. "We've certainly got a lot of hard work ahead and we've got to respond to the challenge - all of us." It was Town's first exit at the opening stage since 1990, when Bolton - Saturday's visitors in Division I but themselves defeated last night - won 5-1 on aggregate against Eoin Hand's side. More importantly, it leaves Bruce and his staff under pressure to immediately lift a side who have lost four of their first six matches - especially as chairman Ian Ayre confirmed there has been no change of stance from owner Barry Rubery on cash for new signings.

Mr Ayre, who joined Bruce and football director Trevor Cherry in clear-the-air talks with defender Ken Monkou last night, said: "To go out of the Worthington Cup is a painful setback, especially when playing as poorly as we did, but it's still early in the season and we just have to make sure things don't get any worse. "Obviously there's some serious business to come, but the injury situation should improve over the next few days and, hopefully, we can get back to more positive things." On Monkou, who was a non-playing substitute for the first time since being fined and sidelined by the club, Mr Ayre added: "It was important from all our perspectives to get things sorted. "Ken says he wants to play for the club and, if he shows that, then he'll be given exactly the same opportunity as every other player.

"We made it clear to Ken he will not be frozen out if he proves to Steve Bruce that he wants the shirt. Ken knows he has to prove he's committed to Huddersfield Town, so he's got it all to do from here." Kenny Irons pulled out last night suffering illness to join the injured Clyde Wijnhard, Kevin Gallen, Craig Armstrong, Steve Jenkins, Rob Edwards and Chris Holland, plus the unavailable Kevin Gray (whose loan ends in time for him to face Wimbledon next Tuesday). "We've got to knuckle down to some hard graft," added Bruce. "Kevin Gallen has a chance for the weekend but we don't know about the rest. At least it's a boost to have Dean Gorré come though.".