One game at a time for Wellens

There might be four games left in Athletic’s Sky Bet League One campaign, but manager Richie Wellens is only concerned with who’s up next.

Points targets and permutations have been talked about almost exhaustively in recent weeks, but Wellens’ only real concern at present is working out how to get his team to secure three precious points at drop rivals Wimbledon on Saturday.

Athletic are presently a point clear of Rochdale in the fourth and final relegation spot, with Wimbledon a further two points clear of the drop zone.

Three points from the trip to south London would of course be invaluable, and that’s all Wellens is focused on for the moment.

The Athletic boss said: “It’s been easier for my mindset because I know what we’ve got to do.

“What we don’t want is people worrying about it.

“The games are getting fewer now, and every week that passes it’s another one, or two, ticked off.

“We just need to go out and win the next one.

“You can get yourself het up and think ‘we’ve got four games left, how many points do we need?’

“Forget about that I say, because you can’t control the final three games.

“Just think about the next one, and if we get three points at Wimbledon it will put us in a massive position going into those last three games.

“Nothing comes easy, though. Has this club ever done anything easy?

“We’ll go to Wimbledon with a really positive mindset, and believe that we’re going to win the game.

“I’m going to get some pace in the team, we’re away from home, so I’ll want to see some counter-attacking and some speed.

“Hopefully we’ll create a lot of chances.

“Three points would change everything for us. It would give us a chance to bring Walsall, Wimbledon, Oxford into it as we’d be in amongst them.

“That’s why it’s a huge game.”

Striker Craig Davies is still rated as 50/50 to make Athletic’s starting line-up at the Cherry Red Records Stadium as he continues his recovery from an ankle problem.

Kean Bryan, Cameron Dummigan and Ryan McLaughlin are all longer-term absentees, but versatile defender Brian Wilson looks set to be available again after shaking off illness.

Meanwhile, Athletic’s last line of defence - goalkeeper Johny Placide - has come in for some more praise from his manager following his recent upsurge in form, culminating with Tuesday’s vital penalty save in the goalless draw at Rochdale.

Wellens said of the 30-year-old French-born Haiti international: “He’s been really good of late.

“When he’s positive in his decision-making and he’s on the front foot, that’s what I like.

“He’s five foot 11, but he jumps really high and I like that.

“The reason why we leave two strikers up is to give Johny more space.

“What we don’t want is the team to start retreating back.

“When you’ve got a keeper who wants to come for everything, you need to free him up.

“Pushing up allows Johny to take a run and obviously try and catch the opponents on the counter.

“For that and other reasons he’s been a really positive influence over the last five or six games, and hopefully he can continue this form until the end of the season.

“He’s one of our more experienced players and he’s played at a good level so you expect good things of him.

“It’s easy to say, but his job is just to keep the ball out of our net and that’s what we’re after again on Saturday.”