North West Counties League First Division North
Joint manager Lee Ashforth has conceded that Campion’s play-offs hopes are all but over.
Steeton’s 5-2 massacre has left Campion needing to pull rabbits out of hats heading into the final throes of the campaign.
“It is hard to say but I think (our play-offs hopes) are gone now,” Ashforth told Non League Yorkshire.
“I think we have just got to see how we do in the remaining games, get through the season, re-group and start again (next summer) and put it our first experience in the North West Counties as being really tough.”
Campion have 14 games remaining and safely finishing the season without relegation worries is the priority now.
“We went up to Holker a couple of weeks and said that we’re near the relegation zone,” he said.
“Then we got a win (against South Liverpool) and suddenly we were six points from the play-offs.
“I don’t think we’re in a relegation fight.
“All the teams below us would have to win and there’s a lot of teams below us.
“We need to get to around the 40 point mark to be safe comfortably.
“That’s got to be our next target.”
Campion’s campaign has been the story of false dawns.
After their late move to the North West Counties, Campion had hoped to mount a promotion charge.
However, players left at bad moments in pre-season and the season started disastrously.
Form has improved since September but it has been too late.
“You know me and I always look inwards before outwards (when evaluating) and at the start of the season we relied on a lot of players from last season staying,” he said.
“A lot of players then left and maybe we should have gone out a lot earlier in pre-season and tried to bring some faces in.
“We didn’t do because we thought we had enough and we were caught on our heels.
“We had to rebuild and we got on a good run but we left it too late and maybe we have run out of steam.
“I know it is only December but we only 14 games left.
“It has been disappointing throughout.
“We have found the league really tough.
“The travelling has killed us and it has been hard to recruit players to travel.
“We’re going to regroup and see what league we are in next year because we could easily get moved back (to the NCEL).
“Regret-wise, I don’t think you can have regrets.
“You just have to use it as a learning curve.”