Bad old habits have to die

Latics’ assistant manager writes every week for Chron Sport
THERE were positives and negatives in our 2-0 defeat at Exeter in npower League One and the 1-0 win away to Scunthorpe in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Our second-half display at St James Park was very good — unfortunately it only came after we had conceded two goals, giving ourselves a mountain to climb.

Once their second strike went in there was only one team in it, we really took the game to Exeter and were constantly thwarted by their goalkeeper.

But the fact remains, we started the match too slowly and paid the price.

At Scunthorpe, the football we played was not as fluent but the players did start brightly and, in doing so, gave themselves a platform for the rest of the game.

The difference between the two fixtures was that in the second one, the lads took on board what we told them in the days leading up to it and carried out their tasks, from the first whistle to the last.

We have to set our standards high though. I know our goalkeeper and two centre-halves came away with a lot of credit, but in my eyes that is a minimum requirement — it has to happen every week if we are going to be a successful club.

Manager Paul Dickov has highlighted the importance of information retention, and I agree. We saw that at Scunthorpe.

But it is also about having the desire and guts to go out there and do what the boss has asked instead of falling back into old habits. The boys have to stay out of their comfort zone and listen.

The victory at Glanford Park took us through to the area quarter-finals, and obviously the incentive to progress in this competition is reaching the final at Wembley.

I played there in two League Cup finals — or the Worthington Cup as it was known back then — and is is such a special place. The powers-that-be wouldn’t have spent £800million on it if it wasn’t!

Getting to a Wembley final would be an unbelievable experience for all concerned — this club needs something, so does this town — but we are a long way off.

Let’s just hope for a kind draw on Saturday and take it from there.