Crewe boss vows to keep battling

THE GHOST of Barnsley hangs over Athletic, as the club bid to tie up the remaining loose ends on a highly satisfactory end-of- season escape.

Crewe halted a wretched run of seven straight defeats on Tuesday night thanks to Callum Saunders’ last-minute equaliser at home to Colchester in a 1-1 draw.

But that won't have been sufficient to lift the gloom around Gresty Road.

Manager Steve Davis had come under increasing fan pressure as he team have slid inexorably towards the League Two trapdoor, with no victories in the last 14 outings confirming the inevitable relegation.

With Athletic in relatively sparkling form, it should all point to a straightforward task of kicking a club when they are down at SportsDirect.com Park on Saturday afternoon.

But that was the plan when Barnsley came across the Pennines under now Bristol City chief Lee Johnson earlier this season.

The Tykes were on a dreadful sequence of nine straight league defeats, but won 2-1 to end the run on November 21.

After that, 17 wins have followed and Barnsley sit on the verge of a play-off place.

Perhaps that evidence of how sharply fortunes can be turned around can offer Crewe some solace for life in League Two next term.

Boss Davis, the subject of fan protests, insists that his side will not give up anything easily as the campaign draws to a close.

“We have got to make sure we are professional and not let the season filter out because it would be easy to let the disappointment creep in to the building, but we have got to remain positive and keep working hard,” Davis said.

“We have teams down there to play who are still fighting but we want to try to bring them down with us, we certainly won’t be doing anyone any favours.

“We have to try to restore some pride that we have lost throughout the season and as a professional you never give up, that's vital, and we can’t let these games slip away.”

Crewe’s adverse fortunes have seen the annual awards night ‘rescheduled’ from early May to an unspecified point in the summer.