Keep the faith, insists Gregan

SHINING LIGHT . . . Sean Gregan receives his player of the month cheque for February from Mike Flaganan, manager of the Spindles Centre, sponsors of the award.

Skipper backs manager to turn it round

LATICS ROUND-UP: SEAN GREGAN has given his backing to under-fire manager Dave Penney.

The inspirational captain, a rock at centre-back this season, believes that the team's efforts in recent defeats to Colchester and Norwich illustrate a strong desire to turn things round.

The club's player-of-the-month for February knows, though, that points are all that matter as Athletic and boss Penney battle to avoid the drop to League Two.

"You can see in the performances that everyone is still behind him," said Gregan, who turns 36 at the end of this month.

"Everyone is still working hard, putting a shift in and trying their best.

"The crowd recognised that on Saturday. We gave it our best shot and couldn't really do any more.

"I am in the dressing room every day and there are no problems with the manager.

"We are going to be judged in the next few weeks and I think he knows that.

"We are not fools and everyone is aware of it, but hopefully we can come through it together.

"It has been a tough week but in two-and-a-half of the three games we have more than matched the top three sides.

"In the second half at Leeds we just didn't turn up, but apart from that, performance-wise, we have played quite well.

"But the bottom line is no goals, no points.

"When the forwards aren't scoring we need to try to share the responsibility around the team.

"It is frustrating at the moment but if we play as we did against Colchester and Norwich against the teams that are around us, we should be picking up enough points to climb to safety."

Gregan's performances alongside the equally-impressive Reuben Hazell have provided Athletic with a solid base to work from this season.

Despite Athletic’s lowly league position, Brentford (32) are the only side in the bottom half of the table who have conceded less than the Boundary Park club’s 38 goals.

It is at the other end of the field that the major problems have presented themselves and for Gregan, the solution is simply to keep on persevering.

"The only difference against Norwich was that they got the chance and scored from it whereas we didn't," he added.

"We just have to keep going, do the same things in training, try to keep the performances up and hopefully it will turn round.

"If we weren't creating the chances it would be an even bigger thing.

“But the fact that we are doing that gives us confidence and our general play is quite good - which is the most frustrating part.

"If you are not playing well, not creating chances and getting beaten then you can't really moan, but that isn't what is happening."

Gregan also believes Athletic can succeed at Exeter on Saturday providing they replicate recent efforts.

"It is a long trip and it will probably be quite a tense game as nobody will want to lose it," he said.

"We have to look at the positives. We played quite well against Norwich and I think if we have that sort of performance again and take our chances we can come away with something."