6th October 1999
6th October 1999 BELEAGUERED Athletic were hit by more bad news today when it emerged that Shaun Garnett and Steve Whitehall are almost certain to miss Saturday's home match against Luton.
The experienced duo are taking longer than expected to get over their injuries, leaving manager Andy Ritchie with yet another headache of his own. It means Ritchie must either call up more youngsters or work from the same songsheet as last weekend, when his out-of-tune players were beaten by Notts County. He said: "It isn't looking as good as we hoped.
What we thought were minor niggles have turned out to be worse and it's very frustrating." Garnett has missed three games with an abdominal strain, but the problem is complicated by his medical past. The 29-year-old defender had an operation on the same area, right at the bottom of his stomach, earlier in his career. He was today seeing a second specialist to discover whether an injection would do the trick, but a jab would still mean he needed two or three days' rest before being ready for action.
The injury-jinxed Whitehall, meanwhile, continues to suffer soreness in his ankle. He twisted the joint at Bristol Rovers in his third comeback match last month and _ to his immense frustration _ has now missed a further two games. Achilles-injury victim Paul Beavers, whose Athletic career has spluttered to a halt recently, remains well short of fitness.
Luton
also have problems for Saturday's meeting, with two of their key players
away on duty with Eire under-21s. Leading scorer Liam George and centre-half
Gary Doherty are the absentees, possibly leading to recalls for Northern
Ireland international Phil Gray, who has been out for a month with a hamstring
problem, and the former Macclesfield defender Efe Sodje.
Youngsters
bow out after brave cup battle
ATHLETIC
YOUTH 1, PRESTON YOUTH 2
ATHLETIC’S
youngsters can be pleased with their efforts in the Lancashire FA Youth
Cup, even though they bowed in the first round last night. The
Boundary Park boys, who have been beset by injuries recently, deserved
more than they got against a Preston team highly regarded by Athletic coach
David Cross. Standing out for the hosts
were centre-backs Alex Rock and Will Haining, plus Scottish midfielder
Gerry McLaughlin who, despite lacking full fitness, showed glimpses of
an extremely bright talent. This, though,
was a team performance of determination and endeavour. All
Athletic lacked against opponents with a physical edge was the finishing
power which would have prevented an early exit from the competition. The
hosts were fighting an uphill battle from the 20th minute, by which time
they had fallen two goals behind. It
was actually Athletic — clearly fired up for their big occasion — who had
the best of it early on. But Preston
took the lead with their first real attack, striker Joe O’Neill exploiting
hesitation in the area to lift an astute angled shot beyond goalkeeper
Ben Robertson. The strike prompted Preston’s
best spell of the game and, 10 minutes later, they doubled the lead.
Athletic
could have no complaints when Alun Oliver was punished for a foul in the
area and the penalty was confidently dispatched by Michael Keane. The
home side then hit the bar through Ben Smith before, in the 37th minute,
McLaughlin scored from the spot after Colin Hall was brought down. Robertson
made a couple of good saves after the break, but Athletic could have equalised
with chances for Smith, Hall and Joe Doran. The
youngsters can look for compensation next Thursday when they entertain
Wrexham at Boundary Park (7pm) in the first round of the Times FA Youth
Cup.
ATHLETIC:
Robertson, Doran (Donnelly 53), M McLean (Griffin 79), Rock, Spurr, Haining,
Smith, Oliver, McLaughlin, Froggatt, Hall. Subs (not used): Otto, Duncan,
Maturine.