Dalbeattie Star boss Eddie Warwick has warned fans not to expect an upturn in results in the near future.
The Islecroft side lost 6-1 to Stirling University on Saturday to leave them bottom of the Lowland League.
And Warwick fears similar results are likely in the next few weeks as they come up against more of the division’s top sides.
He said: “They’re a top, top team and they’re well out of the levels we’re at at the moment.
“We have six of the top eight to play in these six games, including last Saturday. We have Civil Service this week, Broomhill the next week then Tranent, Spartans and East Kilbride after that. It’s just going to be the same until we get on a level playing field.
“We’re just not going to be able to compete. The top six is not our battle this year. Our battle is to beat teams round about us and teams not in the top 10. It’s a total mismatch.”
James Stokes opened the scoring for the visitors with goals from Cameron McKinley and Jason Jarvis putting them well in control – Ben Heal making it four before the break.
David Cox opened his Star account in the second half to give the hosts hope. However, James Berry restored the advantage before Jarvis rounded things off.
Warwick said: “A couple of our new signings looked good.
“After 29 minutes it was 0-0 then we’ve made the cardinal sin of losing a stupid goal then the usual bad habit of losing two or three really quickly.
“We need to cut out the bad habits. It’s no surprise the games we’ve got something from, albeit not very many, we didn’t cave in when we lost a goal.
“The players need to have a tougher mentality and realise we’re in that dogfight.
“Four key players weren’t able to start and we can’t afford that. We’ve not got a squad like Man City where we can leave four out.
“I think one, maybe two, will be back for Saturday but that’ll be it.
“The biggest thing for us is getting everybody back fit. If I have my full squad we’ll have half a chance. We lost our whole midfield from the Rangers game and they’re not available.”
Star are two points behind Edinburgh University and have two games in hand over the students, meaning they still have hope of avoiding bottom spot.
However, this weekend’s trip to Civil Service Strollers is likely to be another tough away day and Warwick isn’t expecting any more ins our outs following the recent transfer activity.
He said: “We’ve strengthened up top but we’ve not anything to get the ball to them.
“If we get our full team it will click and will come good and we’ll surprise a couple of folk between now and the end of the season.
“Hopefully it’s in the right game we get the points but at the moment Dalbeattie Star can’t operate with three or four missing.
“Saturday will be a hard game. They’re a good side. We just need to try to galvanise each other if we can and swing at these games. They’re bonus points. We want to win every game but we need to be realistic.
“We’re left trying to fix it. We have players nowhere near the standard but they have to play.”
