Time for draws to become victories

MANAGER Lee Johnson believes his in-form Athletic squad are still very much a work in progress.

Tuesday’s spot-kick success against Barnsley in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy means the SportsDirect.com Park outfit are now unbeaten in nine matches – a super recent record which isn’t quite reflected by a current 12th place standing in Sky Bet League One.

But Johnson is unsurprisingly pleased with the progress shown so far this season.

He said: “It’s nice to be unbeaten for so long. Obviously we didn’t have a great start, even though we thought we were performing quite well.

“It’s taken time, but we’re getting there.

“The next phase of that is can we get more wins, rather than the draws.

“We all know that’s what’s needed now, but over a period of 23 or 24 games we haven’t lost too many so that indicates we’re heading in the right direction.

“It’s taking time to build a team and the staff, but I’d say we’re getting to where we want to be.”