WE CAN STILL SAVE OURSELVES, SAYS MARINERS KEEPER
MARINERS KEEPER JAMES MCKEOWN CALLS ON HIS TEAM-MATES TO ‘MAKE HISTORY’ IN BATTLE
JAMES McKeown has told his Grimsby Town team-mates they have the chance to ‘make history’ and save the club from a return to non-league. It’s looking increasingly likely the Mariners will be playing in the National League again next season, with Paul Hurst’s side sitting seven points adrift of safety with just six games to go.
There had been some optimism that they might be able to pull off a great escape after their eight-game unbeaten run, but their hopes took a massive dent last week as they fell to a damaging 1-0 defeat at Bradford City.
Town will be aiming to pick themselves back up this weekend as promotion-chasing Bolton Wanderers visit Blundell Park, and McKeown has urged his team-mates not to give up on their survival hopes yet. “We’ve slightly been here before,” McKeown told the Telegraph. “Not to this extent, but in Michael Jolley’s first year we lost 4-0 away to Coventry after a couple of games of him being here.
“That was the one time that I thought ‘geez, we are in trouble’.
“I still believe we can get out of it. I know you can say things, but I think as a group of players if we stop believing, then we might as well just give up now.
“I can appreciate from the fans’ side and for other people, you’re going to think we’re down, but as players I don’t think you can stop believing.
“The run we were on was great in terms of not losing games, but we know we need to start winning games.
“I don’t want to think about what happens if we go down, but you play this game for the pressure. It’s why I became a goalkeeper, I like having that pressure on me.
“You have to at least enjoy being part of something, and I’ve said to the lads a couple of time they’ve got a genuine chance of making history. “Albeit not history you want to make, but if you’re the group that turns it around from where we were a couple of months ago, fans will remember you forever.”