Pressure is stifling our talent – Taylor

SEEKING CONFIDENCE . . . Chris Taylor is desperate to regain his old form and flair.

Boundary Park round up: IF HOME is where the heart is, then Athletic are currently in need of an emergency bypass.

Only 2,833 fans braved the miserable midweek defeat against Brentford, a result which leaves Dave Penney's team in severe danger of the drop to Coca-Cola League Two.

The 3-2 reverse represented an EIGHTH Boundary Park defeat of a tumultuous campaign.

That puts Athletic already level with the number of losses suffered in the League One relegation scrap of 2004-05.

In terms of home wins, the picture is even more grim, with Penney overseeing only five triumphs so far this term.

And with four matches at Boundary Park remaining, Athletic are currently on a par wins-wise with the side which was relegated from the Premier League in 1994.

The raft of depressing statistics is matched by the general mood of gloom hanging over Boundary Park.

Out-of-sorts winger Chris Taylor — who sparked to life promisingly late on against Brentford as Athletic sought a point, hitting a post to set up a second goal for Pawel Abbott — believes that the frustrations of the fans have affected the players on home soil.
"Speaking for myself, I am a bit worried sometimes going out on to the pitch," said the frank 23-year-old, who is playing through what he feels is a restrictive injury around his groin and hamstring.

"You hear the fans after you make a mistake and sometimes it does get to you when you are on the ball.

“You have to try to ignore it, get on with it and do your job to get out of this situation.

"There are a lot of nervous players, you can tell that. They aren't playing with the level of confidence that allows them to show that they are good players.

"Sometimes when the ball is being headed back and forth between the two teams you are stood there at the side of it almost refereeing it all.

"We need to get the ball down and play confidently, but because these are nervous times people are heading it long and don't want to bring it down.

"I have not been in a situation like this since I have been here.

"I have had probably too many chats with my old man back at home getting worried and upset about it.

"I want to get back to myself, scoring goals and creating chances to help keep Oldham up.

"My own self-confidence was coming back in the last half-hour of the Brentford game.

"Normally you go out on the pitch and it is instinct — you know what to do even before you get the ball.

"But there isn't that confidence there that there should be to play like that.

"Fitness-wise I don't think I am all there. Confidence-wise, in the last half-hour I showed that when I get the ball in the positions I need to get it, I can cause problems.

"I put in some good crosses and a couple of bad ones and had a few shots.

"If I get the ball in the right areas I can make things happen, but if I don't then I may as well not be there."

Basic errors cost Athletic the chance of getting something out of the game against Brentford.

They must put that right quickly against Gillingham at Boundary Park on Saturday before facing up to the prospect of taking on play-off hopefuls and neighbours Huddersfield at the Galpharm Stadium on Tuesday night.

"On the balance of play (against Brentford) I thought we deserved a draw even though they broke away a few times and could have scored another," Taylor added.

"But it is a results business and we are down there for a reason.

"If we had won against Brentford we would have been five points clear with a game in hand. Now, we have one game in hand and it is a must-win, almost.

"I think three, maybe four, wins will do it for us, but it is getting them and that is easier said than done at the moment."