Time for us to turn corner – Crossley
Reporter: Park Life — Michael Yarwood’s weekly Athletic roun
Date published: 11 November 2008
MARK CROSSLEY . . . fine late save earned Athletic another FA Cup chance against Cheltenham.
GOALKEEPER Mark Crossley can’t wait to get the league show back on the road when Athletic face Northampton on Saturday.
There was a display of FA Cup character in the weekend game at Cheltenham, but winning promotion to the Championship is what really matters to Crossley and his team-mates.
They are desperate to put the record straight after receiving widespread criticism for their last league performance.
The home loss against Yeovil made it nine points from nine games, but Crossley hopes it was also the nadir of Athletic’s downward slide.
He said: “What happened in the Yeovil game was a big shock to all of us, especially after the way we played against Scunthorpe a few days earlier.
“It’s important we go out and win our next game because there has been a bit of stick flying around and we don’t want to slip down the league.
“We want to start doing ourselves justice because the players at the club are a lot better than people have been seeing.
“We’ve been making individual mistakes, which I think shows the players are feeling less confident than they did before.
“We were stunned and disappointed by the Yeovil game, even more so because it was a chance to get within two points of the leaders.
“This league is going to be unbelievably tight. I keep looking at the table and seeing very few points between the top sides, so all the players want to get out and start winning games again.
“We’ve had a bad patch and everybody knows it, but at the same stage last season we were near the bottom of the table.
“Apart from beating Scunthorpe 3-0 we haven’t played particularly well for the last few weeks, but you can’t get downhearted.
“It’s the individual mistakes which have really cost us, and I hold up my hands on that one because there have been a few goals I wasn’t happy with.
“I’m always honest and I could have done better for one or two, but you should always try to turn negatives into positives.”
Crossley achieved that target with a solid performance at Cheltenham, where his fine save in the 95th minute helped Athletic earn a cup replay.
In the first half at Whaddon Road, the malaise of the Yeovil defeat showed no sign of lifting. But after some tactical tinkering, Athletic re-emerged as a far better side.
Chris Taylor and Danny Whitaker pulled them back to 2-2, raising their respective tallies to seven and five goals for the season.
As a 90-minute performance it still wasn’t convincing, but the way Athletic fought for each other should be enough to boost morale for Saturday.
Crossley went on: “The FA Cup can breed confidence – just look at last season when we had a decent run and a fantastic result at Everton.
“If you build momentum in the cup it can push you further up the league, so hopefully we’ll beat Cheltenham and kick on from there.
“The fans can also play their part, which was shown in the Scunthorpe game when we had a big atmosphere and the players really responded.
“When things aren’t going too well – like in the next game when it was quiet against Yeovil – it’s a time for everybody to get behind us and act as one.”
