CRAIG EDWARDS has called on his Billericay Town side to be braver in possession of the ball as their battle for Blue Square Bet South survival reaches a critical stage.
Despite a decent start – and Rob Swaine's second-minute wondergoal – in Saturday's game against Salisbury City, Edwards' side were outclassed by their opponents and in the second half struggled to get the ball out of their own half.
Chris McPhee levelled for second-placed Salisbury before Jamie White netted the winner – which Edwards said was offside – in the second half to leave the Blues five points from safety.
"To be fair we've been well and truly beaten," Edwards said. "We make no excuses at all.
"We looked like a side that is on its way down. I said to the boys if you're going to go down, go down giving your best.
"They've run themselves into the ground, they couldn't give any more physically. But they need to be brave, get on the ball. It was like a hot potato at times.
"That is because of the situation we're in.
"The second goal was offside, but I don't want to hear that. I said to them that I've never been relegated and a lot of you have never been relegated, but every side I've ever seen relegated, it's the referee, the linesman, it's this, it's that.
"Ultimately we are where we are because of how good we are. If we go down, then it's because we're not good enough for this division. Welling win the league, they're the best team in the division. You are where you are.
"All I want from them is to be braver and if we go down, we go down giving it our best shot.
"We need to get on the ball, be brave and play football because we worked very hard to get the ball and when we got it, we gave it away too easily."
With a long trip to play-off hopefuls Weston-super-Mare tomorrw and then Farnborough away on Tuesday, Edwards' men are facing an uphill struggle to avoid an instant return to the Ryman League Premier Division.
But he insists his team are still ready to fight – in some cases literally – to stay in the division.
"The fight's very much there," he added. "They're fighting. A couple of them had a punch-up in the dressing room on Tuesday.
"The fight's there but it's just a lack of confidence, perhaps the position we're in, we're playing like a team that's in that position.
"We showed up until Christmas that we're a team that's better than that position. Since then we've had a dire run.
"We could point the finger that we've had five good players who would generally start most games not available for us. For a side where we are, that is a big loss. We can't compensate for that. We've had three youth team players on the bench and it's hard for us. I'm not going to lie.
"All we can do is go out there and try and win the last games. It wouldn't be the biggest shock in history if we did do it.
"But it's a big ask. If they go out and play like they did against Salisbury, we've got no chance.
"We dropped so deep and they were able to play around us.
"We tried to play higher andfor 15 to 20 minutes we did better in the second half, but ultimately they were better than us"
