Daryl Parke won’t allow Valley Rangers to “sleepwalk” into a relegation battle this season.
The Bignian Park outfit sit just three points outside the bottom two in Intermediate A following Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Moneyslane.
With 11 games remaining this season, Parke insists they will all be “cup finals” as Rangers look to drag themselves to safety.
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“We had a frank conversation after the game and we know where we are at and what we need to do,” Parke told Match on Tuesday.
“Nobody is too good to go down. Football isn’t won on paper, but we have a good squad here. It is getting those players out is the test.
“We have had players unavailable this season for various reasons. We have been missing Andy Graham who is a big player for us. He leads the line and scores goals.
“He came back two weeks ago from injury and he came on on Saturday, and you could see the goal threat he carries.
“He also gives everyone a lift so he is an important player for us. He is our talisman in many respects, and if he can come back for these final 11 games then that will be like a new signing for us.”
Parke added: “The relegation dogfight has been in my head for a couple of weeks now, but the players haven’t really been thinking about it.
“It is good to keep that pressure off, but I didn’t want them sleepwalking into it either. I know it heaps pressure on players, but they have to realise what we need to do.
“We talked about the battle we’re in after last week’s defeat to Hanover, and maybe the players did feel a bit of extra pressure going into the Moneyslane game.
“We started the game with an element of fear, and we became reactive instead of proactive. We are where we are and have 11 games left, and they are 11 cup finals.”
Valley were 2-0 down after just 20 minutes on Saturday, a deficit they were unable to claw back as windy conditions dictated a lot of the game at Jubilee Park.
The home side added a third on the break before Parke’s boys got on the scoresheet, but it was too little, too late as they slumped to their 11th league defeat of the season.
“Saturday was frustrating,” Parke said.
“Moneyslane have maybe come to terms with where they are in the table, more than we have. They are scrapping for their lives and for the first 20-25 minutes they really did outwork us.
“They got their noses in front and we tried everything to get back in the game but couldn’t manage it. We had efforts cleared off the line and hit the post.
“We applied some pressure but we couldn’t get a goal at the right time to turn the screw. When we did score it was in the last 10 minutes so it was a tall ask to claw it back to 3-3 at that stage.”
Next up for Valley Rangers is a trip to basement club Rectory Rangers on Saturday.
And Parke accepts there is little room for error as they look to maintain their Intermediate A status.
“We need to win the battle first and hopefully our quality will shine through. We know what we need to do this week in training and take it into Saturday’s game against Rectory,” he said.
“We have tough games left, but we have to make teams work for any reward against us. They can’t simply win the game because they want it more than us.
“A few players had their say after Saturday’s game, and they all said we are too proud to go down. We have a lot of winners here who have performed at a high level in this league.
“They won’t want to be tarred with the brush of relegation. And if there was a fear of us sleepwalking into it, we are definitely wide awake to it now.
“We know we have to earn the right to play and win the battles first. Moneyslane were up for it and got their lead and they held it well.
“They killed off the game and slowed everything down in the second half, and we would have done the same thing. They managed the game well.
“We just couldn’t get to within one goal and really exert some pressure. We just need to knuckle down. We have enough experience and quality and we have to put that all together now.
“This isn’t somewhere we want to be, but it is what it is and we know what we have to do.”
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