Weso ready to hang tough

James Wesolowski: growing into captain's role

TAKEN as a whole, Athletic's form across the season has been as cold as the recent weather.

Only 41 points from 39 games in the league is a poor record in stark contrast to the club’s bright days of FA Cup heroics against Liverpool and Everton.

Since then, Athletic have found themselves a new manager and captain — Lee Johnson and James Wesolowski respectively.

Wesolowski (25) is used to contrasts in climate, albeit not on this scale: "It seems like the longest winter ever," he says.

Back home in Leichhardt, a well-to-do suburb of Sydney — his family has experienced astonishingly high temperatures: a record 46 degrees C on the weekend before Athletic's 3-2 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup.

"As a footballer, these are the moments you look forward to — the pressure situations," said the skipper, who is contracted to the Boundary Park club until the end of the 2013-14 season.

"These are the times you hope to be able to look back on and show you had the mental strength to get out of the situation.

"I am looking forward to these seven games and everyone else is too. We have the goal of staying in this division and we want to achieve it for the fans, for the club and for ourselves.

"Lee Johnson has taken the shackles off. He has let us play with freedom. You can see that withJose Baxter and Lee Croft; they are playing with massive confidence now."

Wesolowski says the responsibility of wearing the captain's armband lifts his game by between "10 and 20-per-cent".

His sunny outlook is as persuasive in person as it is influential on the field. Athletic have lost only once since Furman upped sticks to Doncaster — and that against promotion-chasing Bournemouth.

The new skipper has formed a promising midfield partnership with loan player Korey Smith.

“We have those two games in hand on the teams around us as well and that is a massive positive. We know it is in our own hands now for the rest of the season,” said Weso.

"It is about what we do and the points we get — we are not hoping on what others do."