Big guns don’t scare us, says Joe

JOE JACOBSON . . . has established himself as first-choice left-back for Athletic.

BOUNDARY PARK LIFE: JOE JACOBSON is talking the talk as well as walking the walk.

The Athletic player has established himself as an integral part of an increasingly-robust back-line unit, with three clean sheets within his run of six games at left-back.

In addition to his sterling defensive duties — the blip in the strange encounter at Swindon excepted, when he conceded a penalty in first-half injury time — Jacobson also showed signs in the weekend's pleasing home win over Walsall that he could be on the verge of forming a promising attacking link down the left with winger Chris Taylor.

The two men combined well and gave the Saddlers plenty to think about as they looked to provide quality crosses into the penalty area for Pawel Abbott and Jason Price to attack.

The confidence the 23-year-old Jacobson showed in regularly striding forward also manifested itself in the rest of the side, who produced an assured performance which bodes well for Athletic's crunch period in March.

Before that, possibly the toughest run of games in the season awaits Athletic, starting with a visit to the Weston Homes Community Stadium in Colchester on Saturday.

Not that Jacobson is at all fazed by playing three of League One's top four — Colchester, Leeds United and Norwich — within an eight-day period.

"They are tough games, but also the ones you raise yourself for," said the Wales Under-21 international.

"You often see, especially in the lower leagues, teams down towards the bottom of divisions against so-called bigger sides tending to get results.

"We go into the games with plenty of confidence and are hoping to get results.

"We don't want to just go there and make up the numbers. We want to show people what we can do and hopefully bring back some points.

"The win against Walsall was a massive boost for us. We have been unfortunate, apart from the Swindon game when we know we should have done better.

"In the last few games apart from that, Tranmere, Millwall and Tranmere again, I thought we could have picked up a few more points.

"It is a bit harsh when you know you are playing all right and not picking up those points. But against Walsall we battled as a team.

"We had a game plan, stuck to it, and eventually came through with a victory which was very pleasing."

Jacobson, who signed for the club after an injury-affected spell with Bristol Rovers, joined Athletic in the summer but was only fit to make his first-team debut as a substitute in the FA Cup tie at home to Leeds in November.

Since then, on a personal level, Jacobson is pleased with the way things have gone and believes there is more to come from the team as a whole.

"I have only been back playing for the last couple of months, but as far as I am concerned the Walsall game was the best performance I have experienced," he added.

"We passed the ball well and got a lot of crosses in which is always nice to see.

“And as a team we worked hard, stuck together and everyone helped out everyone else. It was pleasing.

"Chris Taylor has had his injury problems as well, but in pre-season we played a lot together and we seem to work well.

"Hopefully, now we can form a partnership and both stay fit until the end of the season.

"I like playing with him and I think he enjoys playing with me, so we are looking forward to it.

"Everyone says the league table doesn't lie, but we know we have games in hand.

“We have had a lot of injuries this season and there have always been players coming in on loan which makes it difficult to create a stable team.

"Now we have a lot of players back most of the squad is being kept together each week and it has shown that when we have a solid side we can produce wins."