Attitude must be spot on —and it will be

LEE CROFT

Athletic’s wing wizard write every week for Chron Sport

FA Cup first-round day is always a bit special - and we’ve got a good, winnable tie awaiting us tomorrow.

Mansfield are in League Two so they will fancy upsetting us, but if we play to our capabilities then we should come away with a good result.

It’s all about getting the attitude right in these kind of situations. There’s a lot at stake and all the pressure is on us to win, so our mentality has to be spot on.

And ours will be. We’ve trained well this week and we’ve spoken at length about what’s in store.

I’ve had a long career so far so I have got a number of great FA Cup memories. I got to the quarter-final stage with Manchester City a few years ago. It was obviously good to get that far in the competition.

But the best memories are the more recent ones, and the win against Liverpool and the two games with Everton. All three games were on TV and it really feels great to get the chance to show off your football in front of the nation.

The Liverpool victory was a great day and hopefully we can get through these early couple of rounds and maybe get a City, Manchester United, Liverpool or Everton again.

That would be a great experience for the lads and of course it would be brilliant for the club and the fans again.

We’ve been able to look through the Burton game this week and spot a number of things that need improving. That was a hugely disappointing result, but the gaffer helped lift spirits by taking us all out for a meal on Tuesday.

All the lads turned out and we had a cracking get-together with some good food. These team-bonding sessions are an important part of a footballer’s career and we all enjoyed it.

It’s all about being focused on making sure Oldham’s name is in the hat for Monday’s second-round draw.