All in this together

Photo: Alan Howarth

John Sheridan

FOR the magnificent 193 who faced a 500-mile trip to Southend, watching John Sheridan stride towards them while saying “it’s for you” will be a season highlight.

For any of the subset of supporters who were also present for the away-day lowlight at Crewe, it’s difficult to believe that such a range of emotions felt towards their own club could be contained in a single campaign.

The manager at the time of the 1-0 loss at Gresty Road in late November, David Dunn, watched as his side failed to fight back as emotions stirred within the away end.

“We’ve got players that are hiding,” he said after that game, the result keeping Athletic in the bottom-four.

Ricardo Fuller didn’t play another game after that and of the players who ground out a satisfying 1-0 win at Roots Hall this week, only Brian Wilson and Liam Kelly are survivors from the starting XI at Crewe.

MUTUAL WARMTH

Where there existed real acrimony between some players, targets for understandable frustration that spilled over, and fans, Sheridan has spoken of a mutual warmth and unity of purpose this week.

Crewe — already relegated, propping up the table with a meagre 31 points on the board — will find themselves up against a different Athletic tomorrow.

Athletic’s manager feels for his opposite number, but there will be no let-up for a club that have taken 30 points from 19 games under the third manager of this season, the sort of rate you would expect of a side chasing a play-off position.

“I have sympathy for Steve Davis. You don’t like seeing any club get relegated,” said Sheridan, who gave his players a day off yesterday as a result of getting back from Southend in the early hours of Wednesday.

“Crewe have a philosophy of bringing players through and over the years, they have gone up and down the divisions.

“I hope that Steve keeps his job and hopefully gets them to come straight back up again.

“I think it will be a difficult game for us, as no doubt they will be wanting to finish the season strongly.

“There is a strong winning mentality here now and the fans are right behind us. There is a real camaraderie there between fans and players and a feeling that we are all on the same path.”

Sheridan’s side have been both doughty and easy on the eye under his charge.

At Wigan, for example, at times the current title favourites were played off their own pitch during a 0-0 draw; at Southend, it was guts rather than glorious football — save for the slick counter-attack which produced Curtis Main’s match-winner.

Only once does Athletic’s manager feel his side haven’t lived to expectations.

“I can go right back to Bradford when I first came in,” he said. “We dug in and even with 10 men (Connor Brown was sent off) came close to getting something.

“In nearly every game, apart from Sheffield United where we didn’t play well, we have been in it battling to get something.”

Now, with Athletic on the verge of safety, Sheridan should be afforded further chances to assess those younger players — like teenagers George Edmundson and Jack Tuohy — he believes can be nurtured to success as he looks towards a 2016-17 season spent much further up the table.

He added: “For any young player at Oldham, they have got a manager in me who they know will give them a chance.

“I like young players who have an edge to them. That doesn’t mean on a personal level, but out of the pitch. I like that mentality.

“Tony Philliskirk will say it and I did the same at Chesterfield, giving players their opportunity. They will only learn through playing.”