Paul Dickov has made a terrific start to life in management but he could be about to experience his first taste of disappointment when Yeovil visit Boundary Park this weekend.

The former Manchester City striker was a surprise choice when he was unveiled at Oldham during the summer, although few would doubt he is feisty enough to succeed in a cut-throat business judging by how he carved out a memorable career in spite of his limitations as a player.

Nobody could ever say Dickov came up short of his potential and it's a theme that appears to have followed him into the dugout given that the unfancied Lancashire outfit have now bagged seven points from a possible nine.

However, the Latics' early success appears to have been built on little more than sheer graft and you always worry for a team when honest endeavour alone starts to earn them odds-on quotes against opposition regarded no worse just a few weeks ago.

The sample of games isn't really big enough to make such concrete judgements about Dickov's men with no previous managerial evidence to call upon but we do know enough about Terry Skiverton to believe that Yeovil will be better on Saturday than they were a week ago.

Mind you, they couldn't be much worse.

The Glovers were completely off the pace against Hartlepool, giving a performance that Skiverton described as the worst during his 18 months at the Huish Park helm, but we should dismiss it as a one-off and expect a positive reaction to the manager's stinging comments.

Now the Somerset club will travel up the M6 looking to brush a sorry episode under the carpet and we make them decent value to avoid defeat by taking the half-ball on the Asian handicap, which amounts to a lay of the home side at even money.

Meanwhile, things never quite worked out as John Ward would have liked at Carlisle and now the Colchester boss could be forced to sit through a humbling epilogue when his new club play host to his previous club at the Weston Homes on Friday night.

Ward was in charge of the Cumbrians for just over a year until November 2008 and did extremely well to guide them into the play-offs in his first season but he was unable to sustain that initial success, departing after a sequence of nine defeats in ten matches.

Waiting in the wings all the while was assistant Greg Abbott who always believed he was the right man for the job at Brunton Park following an promising stint in caretaker charge prior to Ward's appointment.

So while there's clearly no animosity between the pair, it's only natural that Abbott will keen to proudly display the success he is now enjoying in the role and the early pacesetters are worth getting onside at 2.50 in the draw-no-bet market.

Whereas Abbott now has the benefit of time and experience in his position at Carlisle, Ward still has plenty to learn about Colchester and this could be exactly the kind of fixture that illustrates the work that needs to be done.

PICKS:
Carlisle to beat Colchester at 3.50 (at Bet365)
Yeovil (+0.5) to beat Oldham on the Asian handicap at 2.00 (at Ladbrokes)