Latics on the hunt for renewed form

HUNTING down results. . . Athletic manager Paul Dickov.

TWO MORE wins — that is what Athletic need to achieve before minds can be fully focused on next season.

The 1-0 loss at Leyton Orient left manager Paul Dickov looking at nine games without a win.

That is a run of form that beats even the worst of last season, when under Dave Penney the longest the team went without picking up three points was six fixtures.

And it has left once-realistic play-off hopes in tatters.

Dickov's class of 2010-11 clearly have a lot more about them than such a bad spell of form suggests.

This has been shown at various points this season, in such sterling performances as the 3-0 home win over Notts County, the 1-0 win over Huddersfield which deserved to be more emphatic and the first-half of the amazing 3-3 draw with Exeter — a 45 minutes of football from Dickov's men that was twice as enjoyable as anything put together last season.

At the same time, the fact is that results of late have not been good enough.

And with that in mind, some have started to cast their eyes reluctantly down to the bottom-four in npower League One.

As it stands, Athletic are 10 points clear of fourth-bottom Walsall and have a six-team buffer underneath protecting them from the drop zone.

Two very difficult fixtures are next up — Brighton at home on Saturday is followed by an away date in Colchester three days later — and with matches running out, it is certainly time to arrest the poor recent run.

Last season, Athletic finished the season in 16th place on 52 points.

That was two more than Gillingham, who went down in the fourth-bottom spot.

The Gills' total represented only the second time in six seasons that more than a half-century was required to preserve League One status.

The other occasions was in 2004-05 — when when Athletic needed a last-day 2-1 victory over Bradford to stave off relegation.

Six points from here on in would in all likelihood enable the planning to be put in place for next season without worries over the possibility of League Two football — however remote it may be at present — clouding the issue.


Athletic’s remaining fixtures —
Brighton (H), March 19;

Colchester (A), March 22;

Tranmere (H), March 28);

Notts County (A), April 2;

Charlton (H), April 9;

Yeovil (A), April 16;

Exeter (A), April 23;

Walsall (H), April 25;

Swindon (A), April 30;

MK Dons (H), May 7.