New man confident of better times ahead

ADAM Lockwood may be the third member of a defensive Yorkshire mafia to roll up at Boundary Park, but his roots are very much in Oldham.

The 32-year-old defender’s grandmother is from Royton and his late great-grandfather was a season-ticket holder at Boundary Park.

Wakefield-born Lockwood has been settling in at Athletic for some time while playing in the Conference North for Guiseley to keep his fitness up.

The former team-mate of Lee Johnson at Yeovil has over 300 senior appearances in a 15-year career and is hoping his arrival will help to aid a recovery in the club’s league position.

“It’s a really good opportunity for me,” said Lockwood. “I’ve actually been around for a while and I’ve been impressed with the whole approach. Oldham is definitely a club moving in the right direction.

“We are looking over our shoulders a little bit, but football is a funny game. When you suffer a defeat it’s strange to hear the opposition manager saying he’s beaten the better team, and that appears to have happened here a few times this season.

“From what I’ve already seen this squad is more than capable of pushing up the table and doing well, but you’ve got to keep reminding yourselves that you might be in a difficult position and you’ve just got to get out of it.

“Of course you can’t be complacent, but I don’t see a problem at all. The ability, energy and spirit is there in the squad, so maybe it’s a case of getting a bit more luck.”

Lockwood joins loan goalkeeper Mark Oxley and right-back Connor Brown as foreigners hailing from across the Pennines within Athletic’s rearguard.

His responsibility will be to bring a sense of calm to a defence which has only kept two clean sheets in the league this season.

“I know the gaffer and I know just how driven he is. It was a privilege playing with him, but now I know just how much he demands of his players as a manager,” he added.

“His standards are very high and the way he approaches the game is something that has always impressed me. Right down to the last little detail he insists on doing things right.”