Massive victory at Shrews

LEE CROFT

The Latics wingman writes every week for Chron Sport

I HAVE worked with John Sheridan before, so I knew what to expect.

But some of the lads who haven’t have been struck by his honesty in getting his messages across.

He is not afraid to really give you a rocket when needed on match day, but at the same time he’ll hand out praise too - when it’s warranted.

You can ask him anything and he will always give you a straight answer, rather than telling you simply what you might want to hear. It’s a great quality.

Things are starting to look up for us. It had been a while since our last win, so getting on board the coach to leave Greenhous Meadow it was good to know we had taken three points from our game in hand.

It was a big result and a massive weight off our shoulders.

Looking back on the season, so often we have held a 1-0 lead only to give it away. From the point of view of keeping it tight at the back, Anthony Gerrard had a very positive influence in keeping things calm. He brought to the side all his experience and composure – and we needed it.

I haven’t played alongside him before, but he was positive around the dressing room and helps to give us that extra leadership.

In the next few weeks we face Blackpool twice and have Wigan and Peterborough away to play. They will all be difficult games, but after that win, they are games the lads are looking forward to.