Published: Wednesday, 26th May, 2010 5:00pm

Skelly urges fans to stick with Athlone

by Kevin O'Neill

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ATHLONE TOWN forward Austin Skelly has played down suggestions that manager Brendan Place's position could come under closer scrutiny following the team's recent slump in form.

The Town have failed to win any of their last five league matches, including alarming results against minnows Salthill Devon (2-2) and Mervue Utd (1-0 defeat), and an air of anxiety has definitely been creeping into the minds of Athlone followers in recent weeks.

However, Skelly, 29, has leapt to his manager's defence, saying injuries and a lack of experience have cost Athlone in recent matches.

Speaking after Saturday's hugely disappointing 1-0 loss to Mervue Utd at Terryland Park, Skelly said: "I respect Brendan a huge amount and would encourage people to stick with the team and the manager. Obviously, there's pressure at every level of the game, and Athlone is no different, but I think Brendan is doing well with the resources available.

"Unfortunately, we're really struggling with injuries at the moment, and it's important players we're missing, too. Everything Brendan does with the team is meticulous and on-the-ball, and he prepares us very well, but sometimes it takes a bit of time to get things right."

However, Skelly, who has netted three times this season, did admit he'd like to see Athlone adapt a more ambitious playing style.

"We definitely need to start attacking teams more often - and from the first whistle of matches," he said.

"In the First Division we play against a lot of so-called bigger clubs, the likes of Derry City, Cork City, Shelbourne and Waterford Utd, and we naturally adapt a more cautious approach for those games. I don't know, maybe a lot of our players are very young and inexperienced at this level, therefore they find it difficult to re-adapt their mentalities when we play the lesser teams. We need to pick ourselves up very quickly and start getting results again. But we don't create enough chances, not near enough, and it's frustrating in a way, as a striker. But I'll always work hard for the team and hopefully our results will improve quickly. There's no reason why we can't start getting results again," said Skelly.

On the injury front, influential defender Des Hope has an outside chance of making a return for this weekend's away clash against Cork City at Turner's Cross (5pm).

Hope has been badly missed in recent weeks since picking up a calf problem in the 0-0 draw against Waterford Utd in early May, but Stephen Place could miss the rest of the season after sustaining a knee injury during the warm-up in the recent Salthill Devon match.

Robbie Benson was also forced off the field during last weekend's defeat to Mervue Utd, and is doubtful for this weekend. Kevin Williamson is also unavailable for the Cork match due to ongoing commitments with the Ireland Garda representative team in Greece, and Tom O'Halloran is also unlikely to be involved, as well, as he continues to battle with injury.