Win or bust, admits Joe

Danny Whitaker

ATHLETIC find themselves in the last-chance saloon as they prepare for tomorrow’s Coca-Cola League One game at Leyton Orient.

Manager Joe Royle has described it as a “must-win game” as Athletic cannot afford to surrender further ground if they are to revive their play-off prospects.

Athletic, who have won only two of their last 12 league matches to slip to eighth place, realistically need to win six of their seven remaining games to extend their season.

Royle said: “It’s a game which has to be won. A draw would not be much use to us in our current position.

“I saw things in the second half at Cheltenham which were good and positive and which we must build on.

“We had midfield players getting into the penalty area, which didn’t happen against Tranmere. I hope the message is getting through.

“I am proud that wherever I have been my players have always scored goals. It is an attitude of mind, because it you don’t get into the box you won’t score.

“Danny Whitaker scored our equaliser at Cheltenham because he was in the six-yard box after Mark Allott, another midfield player, had surged into the penalty area.”

Royle still believes that Athletic can end the disappointing run which has seen them tumble out of the top six.

He said: “We still have a chance of reaching the play-offs, though not a big one. Stranger things have happened, though.

“There was a time here when we needed to win three games in the last week of the season to stay up.

“I honestly felt that we could achieve that - and we did. If you sit and wait for things to happen, they won’t do. If you believe and think it can happen, it just might.”

Royle says Athletic must not give up on their pursuit of promotion until it mathematically impossible.

And he hopes the smiles are returning the the club after a challenging start to 2009.

“Things have happened and there has been a loss of confidence in one or two players.

“The players are bound to be low after a losing run including conceding six goals at MK Dons.”

Royle is planning long term even though he doesn’t know what the future holds for him at Boundary Park.

He said: “It is hard to plan for the future in football. It always amuses me when clubs have a five-year plan. For most of them that will mean six managers.

“You cannot go into a club and talk about long-term plans, though here there is the future to consider. As we know our fate, the team will change accordingly.”

It won’t be easy for Athletic as the O’s are still in a battle to avoid relegation.

They were in the bottom four at the beginning of March before a run of three straight victories over Brighton, Carlisle and Stockport lifted them seven points clear of the drop zone.

But last Saturday’s surprise home defeat by Walsall means Orient are only three points clear of the bottom four with plenty of work still to be done if they are to beat the drop.


LEAGUE ONE FIXTURES

TONIGHT - Southend v Hartlepool.

TOMORROW - Brighton v Tranmere, Bristol Rovers v Stockport, Carlisle v Northampton, Crewe v Millwall, Hereford v Huddersfield, Leeds v MK Dons, Leyton Orient v Athletic, Peterborough v Leicester, Scunthorpe v Colchester, Walsall v Cheltenham, Yeovil v Swindon.