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Dicko’s salute for his strike partner

Simon Smedley
23/ 1/2008

IN-FORM front-man Liam Dickinson penned a new, extended County contract last Friday, and then went on to praise his strike partner Anthony Elding.

After talks between Dickinson and the club went on for a couple of weeks, he finally put pen to paper on Friday on a deal aimed at keeping him at Edgeley Park until the summer of 2010 - great news indeed for the Hatters faithful.

Dickinson and Elding certainly have had a productive spell since starting together up front again at the turn of the year. Between them they have netted six goals in the last five games, and 24 in all this season.

Dickinson said: "I love playing with Anto, we play off each other.

"He’s a really hard working lad, but we’re both scoring goals at the moment and that’s just what we need.

"It’s a partnership that’s flourishing, and we do have a laugh during games.

"If I set him up I then say ‘it’s my turn next’ and things like that. It’s good to get the banter going as well as the seriousness. Anto’s a real fox in the box, but if the chances are there you’ve got to take them."

Hatters boss Jim Gannon has had a wealth of strikers to choose from this season. At present Matty McNeil is out injured, but the likes of Adam Proudlock and Anthony Pilkington could also come into the mix for a side currently on the back of a four-game winning streak. Competition is there, but it’s healthy competition as Dickinson acknowledged.

He added: "There is a lot of competition in there now, but not just up front, right across the team.

"That’s just a good thing as far as I’m concerned. It just pushes you on and on. If you get comfortable sometimes you can start slacking off a bit, but everyone is on their toes at the moment."

And what about promotion for the resurgent Hatters? Dickinson added: "If we can win two or three of our next four games, that would put us right back in the frame. It’s such a tight league, but all we can do is our best and hopefully that’ll be enough to get us into the play-offs."

Fans’ favourite Dickinson, aged 22, joined County for £2,000 from UniBond League neighbours Woodley Sports in December, 2005.

Since then he has scored 24 goals for the club.