Latics look for a way to end goal drought

RUNNING GAME . . .. Athletic wing man James Dayton attempts to outpace Port Vale midfielder Anthony Griffith.

ATHLETIC must find a new path to goal, assistant manager Paul Murray admitted following the team’s 10th blank sheet at Port Vale.

A long post-match talk in the locked dressing room at Vale Park after the 1-0 defeat sent players into training today with a new action plan.

Murray, part of a management team which has witnessed only one victory in the league in the last nine games, is under no illusion about the urgency of the task Athletic faces. Only two points separate the out-of-form club from the relegation zone.

“We have to stay positive and upbeat and get on the training ground and find exactly what we need, because goals are a problem,” said Murray.

“We will have to analyse it all and look at some different things, because we need to get some goals. “We have got to get some points and we are at the stage where we need to do that, by hook or by crook.”