Ossett Town manager John Reed says his side are in a relegation battle
Ossett Town players have to roll up their sleeves and dig themselves out of a “relegation” battle.
That’s the rallying call from John Reed after his team’s embarrassing home defeat to arch rivals Ossett Albion which left them fourth-bottom and eight points above the drop zone.
Out of sorts Town have won just twice in eleven Evo Stik Division One North games and they are nervously looking over their shoulders ahead of three big fixtures.
Weather-permitting, Town will head to Droylsden and Spennymoor Town in the next four days before a crunch clash with bottom-placed Padiham.
Ossett had not played during December until yesterday because of postponements, but Reed is offering no excuses and he told Non League Yorkshire: “We’re in a shocking position.
“I’m concerned, I have got to be.
“With Prescot winning, they are one point behind us and then we’ll be looking at New Mills and Padiham.
“We are in a relegation fight now, there’s no two ways about it until we get out of it.
“It is no good having six games in hand because you have got to win them.
“The stats are that we have won two in eleven, that tells you everything. Is it good enough? Is it heck, nowhere near good enough.
“We can’t make excuses, the stats don’t lie.
“People might say ‘you have no budget’, but other teams have no budget so I am not going down that line.
“There are five or six teams including ourselves who have not got very good budgets and at the end of the day, there is enough good players in the dressing room to win points.
“We have got to get together and turn this around.”
Ossett made steady progress in the opening two months of the campaign and had enjoyed memorable wins over Scarborough and New Mills.
The 5-0 win over New Mills was at the end of September and that’s when the wheels started to fall off.
Reed added: “We did well early on in the season.
“We were just above halfway, but certainly in the last two months, you look at the record and the record doesn’t read very nicely.
“We need to start winning football matches.
“We can’t keep saying we’ll win the next one and then after the next one.
“We need to try and go to Droylsden now and try and come back with some points.
“Then we have to go to Spennymoor on New Year’s Day which again will be very tough.
“Then Padiham at home next Saturday is an unbelievable game, even at this stage of the season.
“It is a must-win game, as I thought yesterday’s game was because I wouldn’t have been happy with a draw.”
If the game at Droylsden does go ahead, Reed does have a big boost as Richard Patterson, Callum Hepworth and club captain Steven Jeff are back from suspension.
Reed remains on the lookout for new players having recently signed four new players.
Young Worsbrough Bridge striker Brad Kerr is unlikely to feature for Ossett having only attended one training session, according to Reed.
Liam Nelthorpe is available for Ossett after the Christmas fixtures.