Wellens gears up for Athletic's 'play-off final'

Athletic boss Richie Wellens has likened Saturday’s crunch Sky Bet League One final-day clash at Northampton to a play-off final.

It’s win or potentially bust for the visitors to the Sixfields Stadium.

Athletic simply need to better sole drop rivals Rochdale’s result – they host Charlton – to secure survival as they are currently a point better off than Keith Hill’s men.

Athletic will be roared on by almost 1,500 travelling fans, with Wellens hoping desperately that every single one of them will head home happy.

“Obviously we’d have liked to have had it (survival) done and dusted by now, but that’s not the case as we’ve drawn too many of our recent games,” said the Athletic gaffer.

“I feel we should have won some of them, but we didn’t and it’s come down to this and there’s nothing we can do about that now.

“We’ll go to Northampton and make sure we get the job done.

“If I’d been offered this scenario the day before the Peterborough game, with our destiny in our hands, I’d have taken it.

“At that time we didn’t know where a win was going to come from, where a goal was going to come from, we lacked any kind of threat at the top end of the pitch and were conceding goals.

“We’ve managed to get ourselves in this position now, though, so it’s about getting the job done.

“What I don’t want our players to do on Saturday is take the mindset of, ‘oh, Northampton are down so they’ll roll over’.

“What we need to do is make sure that we’re all really focused and aggressive.

“They’re a professional League One team with good players and they will be doing their best to try and stop us.

“I’m not thinking about a draw or anything else. All I’m interested in is going for the win.

“For me, we’re in a play-off final. If we win, we play at a higher level, if we lose, we play at a lower level. It’s that important.

“If we were playing at Wembley in front of a really big crowd everyone would be up for it, but for me playing at Northampton it’s just the same.”

Presumably due to the enormity of Saturday’s game, thoughts haven’t yet turned to what might happen in the summer.

Asked about players’ contracts, and even his own position at the club, Wellens said: “Talks haven’t started yet.

“We made the decision early that we wouldn’t do anything before Saturday’s game.

“On Sunday or Monday, we’ll get all the players in, chat with them and talk about things going forward.

“My situation is the same as the players.

“The owner made the decision that we weren’t going to speak about anything before Saturday.

“We’ll then talk about things on Sunday or Monday about things with a clearer view of what’s happening.”

Athletic will be boosted by the return of full-back Wilfried Moimbe on Saturday, now that he has served out his three-match suspension.

Fellow defender Cameron Dummigan, who had previously been ruled out for the season through injury, might be fit enough to secure a place among the substitutes.