Futures are on the line warns Brig boss

Brig are currently in the middle of a torrid run of results which has seen them lose six of their past seven games.

Last weekend, the team suffered arguably its worst defeat of the season when they lost 4-0 to Trafford at home.

Boss Neil Crowe described that performance as simply not good enough and admitted he may have to think about moving players on and bringing new ones in if things do not start to improve.

“I am not in a position budget wise to bring people in – I will have to get rid of people first,” he said.

“But if they don’t buck their ideas up soon, some might be getting shipped out so that I can bring some players in.

“I think I am going to change it around tomorrow.

“We are probably going to have to change our formation slightly and focus a bit more on not conceding rather than scoring – try and be a bit more solid.

“Obviously results are not great at the minute and I don’t know why to be honest.

“We have got some very good players in our squad, they are just not performing.

“I don’t know if it’s a confidence thing – everybody is different.

“Some players – you have to put an arm around their shoulders, whereas others get themselves going.

“What is happening is we seem to be getting out-battled at the moment.

“We need to have a bit more oomph about us.”

Captain Matt Lawlor – who will serve the final game of a three-match suspension tomorrow – agrees he and his team-mates need to win the battle on the pitch first before they can start to implement their particular brand of passing football.

“I think if you look at earlier in the season when the sun was out and the pitches were really nice, we were top of the league,” Lawlor said.

“But we are at that stage of the season when the weather has turned cold, the pitches are heavier and not as conducive to playing the correct way and we have not adapted to that.

“It’s a massive part of the season – from November through to February.

“This is that time when proper teams come through and go on good runs and set themselves up for the season.”

And Crowe added: “Every week, we say to them that they have got to earn the right first to play football.

“You have to win your individual battles, but I am never going to assemble a team which is just going to kick and hoof it – we will always try to play football.”

Droylsden are currently struggling near the bottom reaches of the division at the moment – something which surprises Lawlor.

“They are one of the big payers in our division,” he said. “They have quite a few players who you would call big names at our level of football.

“They like to play football and play it out from the back. They may be a little bit like us at the moment in that they are being out-battled.

“But if you let them play, they can play very well.”

Brig have no injury problems apart from long-term casualty Alistair Waddecar.

The winger has been out for 12 weeks since suffering a knee injury against Lancaster in August.

He was due to meet a specialist yesterday to decide whether the former PNE youth player must undergo a scan.