Cove Rangers assistant manager Gordon Young has questioned the desire of the players to keep the club in the Championship.
Cove tumbled to yet another heavy defeat, this time at the hands of Partick Thistle in a 5-0 loss, to further deepen their woes at the bottom end of the Championship.
Hamilton’s thumping at the hands of Dundee will come as little consolation to a Cove side which is leaking goals at will.
The Aberdeen side have conceded 14 goals in their last three games and it is also just one win in 14 games for a side on a desperate run of form.
Games are running out for them too. They sit in ninth with five left to play; Hamilton are a point behind with two games in hand while back-to-back victories for Arbroath has taken them five points clear of Cove.
“As a player or a coach, you’ve got to ask questions if you can justify doing enough to keep the club in the Championship,” said Young.
“It’s had an extremely proud career and reached the pinnacle – you’ve got to try hold on to that.
“You should have at least desire and fight; if you’re going to die do it on your feet, you can’t die on your knees.
“Mistakes can cost you at this level. When we make chances, we’ve got to be ruthless and take them.
“Good teams score at one end and keep a clean sheet at the other. Teams that aren’t doing so well aren’t creating chances and are leaking goals.
“I can’t dress it up and make it seem like there’s a hidden art to winning a game of football.
“There needs to be a desire to represent yourself and the club and I don’t think we’re doing that just now.”
The manner in which Cove continue to concede goals will be the biggest concern.
Defensive errors continue to undermine their performances, with at least the first three goals attributable to mistakes from the home side.
But at the front end of the pitch they are struggling to score goals. From what has been a strength of theirs coming through the leagues, just eight have come in the last 14 games.
“In the situation that we’re in just now, the defenders will blame the strikers for not converting and the strikers will blame the defenders for leaking goals,” said Young.
“At this level, any mistake is being punished and it’s a common trend. The amount of work that goes in during the week – by the players – to eradicate this is not reflected in the scores.
“When you’re winning trophies and leagues, everyone is wanting to be on the podium and take credit. As a group we must face this – as a staff, as a playing squad.
“We’ve still got five games to go. While we can still control our own destiny, we must believe that we can win games.
“We’ve still got to play the two teams around us and we must have a chance of beating them.”
Conversation