Winjhard is making good progress and hopes to be back in action soon but the Latics will enter Saturday’s match with only two recognised strikers, Chris Killen and Scott Vernon. John Eyre may be forced to push up front although Iain Dowie has not ruled out the possibility of taking a striker on loan to fill the gap. When Killen (pictured) reaches the 20 appearances mark Athletic will have to hand over another £50,000 to Manchester City under the terms of his signing. Killen said: “It has been a slow start, but hopefully I can pick up some better form quickly and carry on from there. I’ve been below my best, which might be down to a few injuries or the fact it can be difficult coming to terms with a move. You are making a new start, so it can take time to get used to new players, new fans, new ways and a new place. The gaffer gave me a good run when I first arrived, but maybe I didn’t score as many as I should have done so it was fair enough to step me down for a while. We have done exceptionally well since then and I know it needs a defeat or someone to get injured or banned for me to get back in. It hasn’t been too bad because I’ve been coming on as sub quite often, but I should have been doing much better."
"Anyone who signs for a fee is going to be judged and faced with a lot of expectation, but it isn’t a case of feeling any pressure. I only turned 21 in October, but the fans probably expected a little bit more from me and that’s fair enough – I expected more from myself. I set myself that target of 20 for the season and, since we’re only halfway through, I’m going to stick by it. I’ll have to work a little bit harder to get there now but, if the chances come along and I take them, who knows? It would be nice to get another run in the side because I enjoyed that at Port Vale last season and thought I did a decent job for them. There is a lot of competition for places here, but it’s good to be fighting with other players because it forces you to improve your own game.”