Evina desperate to turn the tide

IMPROVEMENT must come very quickly if Athletic aren't to be drawn into an ugly battle against relegation.

It is head-scratchingly difficult to believe that the same team which produced such scintillating football as in the three-goal first half of the Exeter home game — a result admittedly all-but ruined by shambolic defending late on — can find it so hard to get even one goal at the moment.

But a horrible run of six defeats in a row, scoring only twice in the process, won't go away when manager Paul Dickov wakes in a cold sweat during the night.

It is a real, waking nightmare. As is the predicament the team now finds itself in.

With eight matches left in the season which has not so much gone downhill as fallen off the side of Mount Everest, Athletic believe they need another six points to firmly ward off the spectre of relegation.

Taken in isolation, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Taken in context of the current run, it could well be. Especially considering that five of the teams left to play — Tranmere, Notts County, Yeovil, Walsall and Swindon — are currently below Dickov's weary men in the npower League One standings.

On Tuesday at Colchester, it would probably have been a very different tale to the familiar one had a first-half scoring chance for the visitors nestled inside the net.

Cedric Evina was Athletic's star man on another sorry night and he came close at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, a left-foot shot from outside the area whistling a foot beyond the far post.

The former Arsenal youngster felt his team experienced a dose of bad luck in the third consecutive 1-0 defeat.

At the same time, though, he recognises that more needs to change than simple good fortune if things are to turn around — starting with the visit of Tranmere to Boundary Park on Monday night.

"I tried to place it, but I think now I should have gone with the laces. It was quite close," said Evina, referring to his 20-yard strike.

"In the first half we had one saved on the line from Ritchie Jones, others from Kieran Lee and Reuben Reid went close and there was my shot, too.

"In the second half, as well, we had a couple of chances.

"It is difficult to be beaten like that. And it hurts to get beaten like that.

"After they scored we tried to get back into it, but they put two banks of four in front of us to try to play on the counter.

"We tried to break them down and we still had a couple of chances, which we thought maybe we should have done better with our strikers getting across the goalkeeper on a couple of crosses.

"We just need to keep going and working towards Monday.

"Monday is a massive game now, just as every game is massive for us.

"We need to start picking up points from somewhere, otherwise it is going to be a big scrap."

Evina said he appreciates the sterling and unstinting effort of fans who travel to support the team on such unforgiving trips as the one down the A1 to Colchester on a Tuesday evening.

The last time Athletic found the net on their travels was at Carlisle in January, six matches ago.

"It is tough on the fans and we appreciate their support," Evina added.

“They travelled five hours to get to Colchester and to go home with a defeat is as hard on them as it is on us.

"I think it is a confidence thing. I think that once we get one, two and three goals then it will come back again.

"At the start of the season we were scoring for fun, but now we need someone to step up and put the ball in the net for us.

"Everyone is concerned. We are 11 games without a win and everyone is trying to pull together to try to get out of this bad run of form."