Judge us after 15 games, says Latics boss

LEE JOHNSON: bouncing back from defeats

STICK with us — and stay positive says upbeat Athletic manager Lee Johnson aftera pair of home defeats to Derby and Walsall last week.

The youngest manager in the Football League wants fans to keep the team’s promising pre-season and thrilling 4-3 victory at Stevenage on the opening day in mind.

While the Saddlers setback hit him hard, Johnson (32) is ready for the test at Peterborough on Saturday — and hopes supporters will give his new-look team a chance to blend.

“What I really don’t want is for everyone to lose faith,” he said.

“I would say, see where we are in 10 or 15 games’ time. There has been a fantastic, positive vibe around the town. Let’s use that and go from there.

“I was so deflated after the Walsall game. Part of the reason was that I knew we may have lost 400 people for our next home game. What I would say is, stick with us.”

Johnson is likely to be missing David Mellor and Jonson Clarke-Harris on Saturday, both injured.

Winger James Dayton is likely to play, however

Whether Athletic have a new defender on board by the weekend to fill in for Mellor remains doubtful.

Johnson scotched talk of Manchester United centre-back Tom Thorpe arriving on loan, with the feeling being that the Old Trafford club don’t want to lose defenders at the moment.

“We have got plates spinning but the situation is that at the moment we are tight financially.

“We have got Cliff Byrne, Glenn Belezika, James Tarkowski and Joe Cooper as centre-backs. And Jonathan Grounds can play there as well. In an ideal world, I would like another experienced centre-back. But at the moment, there isn’t one around for us.

“What we do have is a couple of options with more inexperienced players where we might be able to do a couple of things.”