MARK Cooper has taken aim at the local media as he attempts to steel his players for the remainder of their promotion push.

With Town have having lost four of their last five games, the boss is clearly unhappy with the way his side’s dip in form is being covered.

In an attempt to calm his players, Cooper was keen to stress the need for all to remain even keeled and avert talk of crisis, stating the last five games mark a blip in Town’s season.

“I think the media are desperate for the word ‘crisis’ to come in,” he told the local press.

“I think they’re desperate to say ‘this is a crisis, you’ve blown up, you’ve blown your chances’. There are still 45 points to play for.

“Now, I could say we’re better off having our blip now than with five games to go but I know that you have sell space or newspapers or whatever and it’s more sexy to have a dramatic headline – ‘we’re in crisis’ or ‘we’ve lost three games’ and blah, blah, blah.

“I have to try to keep an even keel or a lid on it for the players because, if they see me panicking and telling them that we’ve got to win, we’re in crisis and we’re not doing this or that, then they could completely go under.

“They have to see me calm, collected and keeping control.”