Athletic's victory over Bradford City in Tuesday's northern area semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy was helped with a goal from Tom Adeyemi. What is remarkable is that Adeyemi, who stepped into a midfield role to replace the suspended Dean Furman, was physically sick during the half time intermission.
Latics boss Paul Dickov said, “It was a great finish and a great first touch from Tom. He was violently sick at half-time. I have never seen anything like it. Then he goes and puts in a second-half performance like that. He is a fantastic kid. The main thing in cup games is getting through to the next round and our work-rate and attitude, without playing as we can do, was first-class. You have to give Bradford credit. They made it ever so hard for us and gave it everything they had. We had to stand up and be counted and to a man, we did that. We thoroughly deserved it. There is a togetherness in this group that can take us forward and it was on show. Our fans played a big role last night as well. I know Bradford brought a lot, but our supporters were fantastic. The biggest thing we are going to have to do now is keep our feet on the ground.”
The reward for Athletic is home and away matches with Chesterfield in the area final which will be played early next year. Chesterfield were recently hammered 5-2 at Boundary Park and are managed by former Athletic boss John Sheridan.