Rutherglen Glencairn assistant boss Joe Pryce concedes it will be difficult for his side to gain a promotion slot from the West of Scotland League First Division.
But he says they’ll back the players to come through their current sticky spell, which has seen them fall to three straight defeats in all competitions, two of which have been in the league.
Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at home to Bonnyton Thistle left them 10th in the league, and though they have games in hand over several teams above them, they’re nine points off third-placed Benburb.
But with a trip to leaders Kilbirnie Ladeside on Saturday, Pryce says they don’t have time to feel sorry for themselves.
He said: “It’s going to be tough now, for us to get there, but we’ve got to keep believing.
“It’s the next game, the next game, and the next game. We’ll try to win the next game, and see where it takes us – that’s where we are at the moment.
“It’s just one of those tough periods that you go through, where you’ve just got to keep your head down, keep working hard, and you know you will come out the other side.
“You need to have belief, and we will.
“The players know we’ve got their backs, and we’ll back them 100 per cent.”
Pryce hopes his side will rediscover their early-season form, and says there is time to climb the table, with 12 league games remaining.
“Games are coming thick and fast, there’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves,” he said.
“You’ve just got to get on with it.
“Kilbirnie Ladeside will be another difficult game.
“But we have no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to get on with it, pick ourselves up and move on to the next one.”
Ten-man Bonnyton ran out comfortable winners on Saturday, with Jack McIlveen pulling a goal back from the spot to reduce the score to 2-1.
However, Taylor Allan bagged a third for Jags, before he was red-carded in the closing stages.
Pryce, who took the team in place of suspended Willie Harvey, said his team dominated the game, but were punished for every mistake.
He said: “It wasn’t our day. We’re just going through a tough period at the minute so we’ve got to keep our head down, work hard and know we’ll come out the other side. The players know that.
“At the minute, any mistake we’re making we’re getting punished for it.
“On Saturday we dominated the game, dominated the ball. Our goalkeeper hasn’t made one save, but he’s picked the ball out of the net three times.
“The red card didn’t make any different because we were dominating anyway when the game was 11 v 11.
“We still kept pushing forward. Towards the end of the game we created three or four chances, but it’s not enough.”
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