Back to basics

Peter Clarke

ATHLETIC captain Peter Clarke says the players must go back to basics in order to recover from the blow of being knocked out of the FA Cup.

Clarke's second-half header at Lincoln sparked hopes of an unlikely comeback, but even though Billy Mckay reduced the arrears further, the skipper admitted that had his side escaped with a draw at Sincil Bank they would have been fortunate.

After the televised 3-2 loss, the 34-year-old insisted on emerging from the dressing room to front up to the waiting media over the humbling loss to the Vanarama National League front-runners.

"The manager had some harsh words in the dressing room, but said he would go out and defend us - but I don't think it's right that he does that," said Clarke, who now has three goals for the season.

"Him, Ian Baraclough and Conor Marlin, the analyst, briefed us over the last four or five days about what to expect from the game. The performance, especially in the first half and maybe for 55 minutes of the contest was nothing short of embarrassing to be honest.

"We knew it was going to be an 'up and at them' cup tie, but we didn't step up and perform. We didn't do all the horrible, nitty-gritty things which are demanded not just in a cup tie, but in every game.

'FORTUNATE'

"We made a good fight of it in the end, but if we had got a replay, we would have been fortunate.

"We left a lot to be desired and we let down the manager, fans, chairman and everyone involved with the club.

"In the end, we made a good fist of it. But we shouldn't kid ourselves as what had gone before left us with too much to do."

Athletic travel to Oxford United on Saturday in the first meeting between the clubs for 15 years.

A victory could lift Athletic out of the bottom four, provided other results fall right.

Then there is the visit to Walsall in the knock-out stage of the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday night.

Clarke had praise for the 415 travelling Athletic fans who made themselves heard at Lincoln and hopes to make up for at least some of the disappointment they endured in the coming week.

"It was a fantastic turnout," he added. They were great and they didn't deserve the performance we put in.

"They came in good numbers and made themselves heard, like they always do. As a group, we let them down.

"We have got to go back to basics. We have got to do the nitty gritty things right and if we do that then we can play some good stuff. You have to win the battle first and against Lincoln, we were left wanting.

"We have got two important games coming up and we will be back in to start and put things right.

"We aim to go to Walsall after Oxford and aim to get two positive results."