Poggsy out - Blayney in

Last updated : 16 May 2007 By The Chairman
Alan Blayney will be in Athletic's goal for the semi-final second leg at Blackpool on Saturday. Les Pogliacomi is definitely out of the game after he hurt his thigh in the first leg last Saturday. Poggsy and was taken off after 52 minutes and he may be out for anything up to six weeks.

Blayney (pictured) told Latics World, "I'm really looking forward to it, but I feel sad for Les. To get a bad injury at this stage of the season in the middle of the play-offs and with a chance of playing at Wembley is very unlucky, and now it's up to me to step in. It should be a good game in front of a full house. The semi-final of the play-offs is the kind of game that every player wants to play in. You're not really prepared to come on and you don't prepare for a game where you're on the bench like you would when you're starting. Having said that, sometimes it's better to just get thrown in. There's no real time to think and you're just straight into the action. Sometimes that works your way and sometimes it doesn't, but I think it went okay for me."

"Our second half wasn't great, and they had a lot of chances where we could have been dead and buried. Luckily we weren't, and we're still definitely in with a chance. It's only a one-goal difference, and if we can get one early you never know what could happen."