Play-off chase will go to the wire - Jones

Mike Jones: the midfield man reckons the race for a top-six place won’t be decided until the final day of the season.

FREE-KICK hero Mike Jones says Athletic will fight for a play-off place as long as one is available — and predicts the chase will run until the final game of the season.

Port Vale were seen off this week as a result of Jones’s stunning 30-yard strike — his third successful free-kick of the season.

The former Bury and Crawley midfield man says caretaker boss Dean Holden is a popular figure in the dressing room. But the sort of fight put up by Athletic at Port Vale will need to be replicated right across the remaining 13 games if the club is to stand a chance of finishing in the league’s top six. The plan is to still be in there battling for a first play-off appearance in eight years come the last day, a home clash with Peterborough on May 3.

“It’s not over until the last game — and I think it will come down to the last game. That last spot is anyone’s,” said Jones.

“There are eight to 10 teams in for it. As long as it is still mathematically possible, we will be going for it.

Jones says the loss of former manager Lee Johnson to Barnsley hasn’t affected the players’ mindset.

“We have just got on with the job. I have been in football long enough to see managers come and go. You have got to get on with it and nothing changes.

“Deano (Holden) has come in, everyone likes him and he has done a good job up to now. We will get behind him and stick together and keep getting wins, hopefully.”

Athletic head south for Yeovil tomorrow with a revenge mission in mind, having been beaten so shockingly by the Glovers at home in December.

Jones believes the game in Somerset will be every much a battle as that against in-form Vale.

“Like any other game, we go there with confidence,” he said. “We had to grind it out at Port Vale and Saturday will probably be similar. But there is a good chance to go there and get another three points to propel us up the table.”

Chairman Simon Corney is expecting to talk with Iain Dowie about the vacant role at the weekend.

Dowie appears to be the club’s number one choice if he can be persuaded back into management. Corney has stressed he is in no rush to name a new manager.