Full back Rob Hunt believes the players need to take the bull by the horns on Saturday as Doncaster Rovers are the visitors to Boundary Park.
Latics head into the game level on points with Walsall and Rochdale and a win will ensure Athletic take a huge step to safety this weekend.
Hunt said: “Everyone on the pitch needs to step up and be a leader.
“I think we have got the quality at the back to stick together and throughout the team to keep the clean sheet and get the win.
“We just have to get on with the situation. The boys have come in and done really well.
“George Edmundson and Tom Hamer have been fantastic recently and Brian Wilson has done well when he’s come in but we just have to stick together as a team and win on Saturday.
“We are the ones that got ourselves in this situation so we need to dig us out. We have done well against teams but we have just not had that little bit of luck.”
Doncaster Rovers are the visitors tomorrow afternoon and Hunt knows the importance of getting a result.
“It will be a difficult game,” he commented. “They have got some good players but forget about them, we concentrate on ourself and we know what we have to do.”
The 22-year-old also praised the supporters ahead of the game.
“All their support throughout the season, home and away, has been fantastic,” he said.
“They spend a lot of time, effort and money coming to watch us and hopefully we can repay them and say thanks to them for their support throughout the season.
“We will give it our best shot and hopefully we can get the three points. It can have a massive impact on the team, hopefully they can create a lot of noise and we can repay them with a win.”