Jones ‘loving’ his spell with Latics

HAVING A BALL: Athletic midfield ace Mike Jones envisages an extended association with his current club.

REIGNING player of the season Mike Jones is happy to stay with Athletic long term, but has yet to open any talks over extending his contract.

The energetic 28-year-old, who moved back North last year following a two-year spell with Crawley, says he is perfectly content with life at Oldham.

And he can picture himself in an Athletic shirt in another 12 months’ time: “I love it here and I am back settled up North,” said the midfield man. “They are a great set of lads and I get on well with the staff — I am more than happy. Hopefully I’ll be staying here for a longer period of time.”

On possible discussions over extending his deal, which runs out at the end of the season, Jones is relaxed: “There hasn’t been anything yet,” he said, when asked if talks had taken place. “We will have to see and I am just concentrating on my football for now.”

Jones is as mindful as anyone else, heading into tomorrow’s game against Peterborough, of the need to maintain his standards with plenty of players battling for a starting place.

The only thing missing right now for last season’s Chronicle Star Man is the sort of results he believes Athletic’s play deserves.

And he says the team are targeting a quick getaway from the starting blocks for the Posh visit tomorrow.

“Midfield is probably the most hotly contested position in the squad, and when you have the likes of Carl Winchester sitting on the bench it is madness, really,” Jones added. “We just have to concentrate on ourselves and winning our home games.

“We need to start matches better. It is something we have been addressing all week and something we are looking to put right tomorrow. Generally, we have played well in a lot of games and have deserved a lot more out of some of them.”

Despite winning only once so far, Jones remains confident this Athletic squad can push towards the top six.

“It’s early days,” he said. “We feel we have deserved more and hopefully points will start coming soon, so we can climb into the top half and up to the play-offs - where we want to be and where we think we are capable of being.”