Joe demands late flourish

I’m fed up of not winning, admits boss

ATHLETIC boss Joe Royle is looking to finish the Coca-Cola League One season on a high note.

Athletic have three games to go, starting with tomorrow’s long haul to relegation-threatened Brighton.

It will be Royle’s seventh match in charge after replacing John Sheridan, and he is desperate to taste success for the first time since his second coming to Boundary Park.

The draws at Carlisle and at home to Crewe over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend finally wrecked Athletic’s hopes of reaching the play-offs.

But for Royle and his players, the desire to end the season on a high remains.

He said: “I’m fed up with ‘Ds’ and ‘Ls’, I want a win.

“Looking back, I think we should have had a minimum of three by now, but for one reason or another that hasn’t happened.

“I came in hoping to kick-start the season and to make the play-offs.

“We could have been there, but we haven’t taken our chances when we’ve been on top, whereas defensively, overall, we’ve been pretty tight.

“It has only been fine lines. I’ve been unhappy about certain decisions by referees and we’ve been down to 10 men on a couple of occasions. We’ve also given away penalties.

“However, it’s not all doom and gloom and as I said after the last two matches, the shoots of recovery are there.”

Brighton are scrapping for the their lives under Russell Slade, and Royle is expecting no easy task on the South Coast.

Despite the Seagulls’ perilous position, the Athletic chief says there is little between the sides seeking promotion and those struggling to get out of trouble.

Royle said: “Brighton had a good result the other day and are battling.

“Peterborough are 20 points ahead of us and Cheltenham are 20-odd points behind us, but from what I’ve seen there is not that much difference between them.

“It’s not a spectacular division, you just need a little bit of savvy.”

Royle has been a rare visitor to Brighton’s Withdean Stadium. Their new ground, the Falmer Stadium, is under construction, but won’t be open for business until August, 2011.

He said: “It is very countrified and to an extent you have to make your own atmosphere.

“I went down there with Ipswich for the last game of the season. We needed to win to go up. We didn’t win and it didn’t matter in the end because other results went against us anyway, but it was a very strange game.”

Brighton are doing their level best to stave off relegation.

The Seagulls’ 1-0 win at Colchester United on Easter Monday lifted them within four points of the safety zone.

Survival still remains a tall order and to compound the issue Slade’s side face the last four games without their two top marksmen.

Fifteen-goal leading scorer Nicky Forster is awaiting a scan on a knee injury, while Glenn Murray, who has struck 12 times in 29 games, is sidelined after a hernia operation.

Former Athletic striker Craig Davies has failed to set the world alight since sealing a move to Brighton at the end of the January transfer window.

In fact, he has picked up more yellow cards (two) than he has scored goals (one) in 10 starts and four substitute appearances, and was replaced by Gary Hart at Colchester.

Slade left Davies on the bench and turned to 30-somethings Hart and Lloyd Owusu to lead the line.

The pair combined to clinch victory and Owusu, who scored the all-important goal, reckons the Seagulls are capable of avoiding the drop.

He said: “No Brighton player wants to play in League Two.

“I believe we can do a great escape. We’ve got a spare game as well and we have got to make sure we don’t mess up against Oldham tomorrow.”

Tomorrow’s League One fixtures ( 3pm):

Brighton v ATHLETIC; Bristol Rovers v Millwall; Carlisle v Swindon; Crewe v Cheltenham; Hereford v Colchester; Leeds v Tranmere; Leyton Orient v Northampton; Peterborough v Stockport; Scunthorpe v MK Dons; Southend v Leicester; Walsall v Huddersfield; Yeovil v Hartlepool.