Players knew it was coming

Last updated : 25 September 2007 By Dave Moore
Andy Liddell was flushed with the success of the 3-0 win at Walsall, only Athletic's second league win of the season. Liddell told Latics World, "We played well and deserved to win. In the last few games we haven't played well and have let Shez, Tommy Wright and Lee Duxbury down, but we played well today. We put some good balls in to Michael Ricketts and Craig Davies, and could have had a couple more goals. Walsall probably could have had a goal too if they'd have had a bit of luck, but we definitely deserved to score more. I know Walsall didn't play well, but that is down to us."

"I just decided to hit (the penalty) it hard, the goalkeeper went the right way but he had no chance of saving it. It was a definite penalty too. Overall it was a good performance, we scored some decent goals and got a good win. It's still early in the season and I don't think the league will even itself out until twenty or twenty-five games have gone, but we need to be up there because we've got some good players. Now we need to get on a run."

Craig Davies (pictured) was also buoyant and confessed that the team were expecting the win even before they travelled to the midlands. Davies said, "We've been working hard as a team. It's been a long time since the Swansea game but everyone knew it was coming sooner or later, now hopefully we can build on this. It was a decent enough finish for my goal, but I was disappointed with my chance early in the first half because I should have done a lot, lot better with it. I don't think I played my best today, but at least I scored so I've got something to take from the game."

"Michael Ricketts had a really good game. He scored the first and then got the penalty. His goal was similar to my chance, but he kept his composure and finished it well. Considering we'd lost the last four, the atmosphere in the dressing room has been very good, and everyone's been laughing and joking because we knew it was coming. I said the other day that we didn't deserve to be bottom because most of our performances, barring Hartlepool, haven't been that bad. Now I hope we can build on today."