Mills keeps a positive outlook

Joseph Mills

Latics 1 Peterborough 5

ATHLETIC full-back Joseph Mills has shrugged off any doom and gloom around SportsDirect.com Park and is looking for a bout of ‘bouncebackability’ at rock-bottom Crewe tomorrow.

Fans have been vocal in their frustrations after watching Athletic slip into the Sky Bet League One drop zone with back-to-back home league defeats.

The 5-2 mauling by Southend on Tuesday was particularly galling for many supporters, but Mills (26) insists Athletic are only part way down a long road towards stability and a position of strength.

Former Southampton, Reading and Burnley defender Mills said: “I wouldn’t say confidence has been dented, but this recent run has certainly tested each player.

“You need that as a player, though, and you need that mentality to come back positively, and there are strong characters in the dressing room, as well as plenty of quality.

“Obviously tomorrow gives us a great opportunity to bounce back.

“These are not dark times, we’ve still got more than half a season to play so it’s not like we’re heading towards the final chapter.

“We’ve got a lot of time to put things right, we’ve got players coming back from injuries that will make the squad stronger.

“It’s a testing time, but it’s one that I fully expect us to emerge from positively.”

There has already been plenty of work put in on the training ground in a bid to make sure there will be no repeat of Tuesday’s thumping by the Shrimpers.

Mills added: “Obviously everyone was very down after the game the other night.

“We had given ourselves a chance by getting it back to 3-2, but then lapses in concentration gave the game away.

“We’ve not been good enough in the first half these last few weeks by our standards, but in the second half we’re putting in performances which could have seen off teams.

“We have been working on that, and we’ll continue to do so until we get things right.”

Despite the tribulations, Athletic will bid to extend their unbeaten away record at Gresty Road tomorrow, and that will hopefully provide another platform going into the next SportsDirect.com Park clash against Millwall on December 12.

“There is a different mentality when you’re at home,” acknowledged Mills.

“The onus is on the home team to attack, score goals and play entertaining football.

“When you’re playing away you do have that luxury of being able to sit back a bit more and kind of see what the opposition throw at you.

“You can then counter, or adjust your style of play, and we have done that well away from home.

“We can bring that into our home form, but just looking ahead to tomorrow, we just need to go to Crewe and make sure we get the right result now.”