Athletic players in need of a breather - Bunn

Athletic manager Frankie Bunn

Athletic players are in for a little bit of well-earned down time this week after a tough start to the season.

Frankie Bunn’s team saw their five-game unbeaten League Two run come to an end at the weekend as they were beaten 1-0 at home by high-flying Newport County.

The result saw Athletic drop back out of the early play-off places, but now the squad a full week to prepare for this coming weekend’s trip to struggling Grimsby Town.

The Mariners have won just once so far this term and were comprehensively thumped 4-0 at Bury on Saturday.

 “We've had a tough six weeks and we're at that stage where the players might need a breather and ease off them a little bit,” said Bunn.

“We’ll still doing work, but more tactically based instead of the hard work side of the game, so I think we need to regroup, see how we are and we'll take it from there.”

Despite the weekend result against Newport at Boundary Park, Bunn was proud with his team’s performance.

The Athletic boss added: “I feel that was the best we’ve played so far this season.

“I thought tactically we were spot-on for the first time we encountered a team playing three at the back, and I just felt comfortable throughout.

“Perhaps a little bit of anxiety, quality at times and choosing wrong decisions was the difference, but I was pleased with the way we kept plugging away.

“Newport made it difficult for us the way they defended in numbers, but that might be the case now we've got a name for ourselves in this league and I thought we did everything but score.”

Tickets are now on open sale for Saturday’s trip to Grimsby.

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