Carlisle boss Greg Abbott watched his team slide deeper into relegation trouble and finally admitted the club are fighting for their lives. Abbott said Saturday's 3-0 thumping at Southend means nobody at Brunton Park can dismiss the risk of relegation any longer.
The Cumbrians are now just three points above the drop zone and Tuesday night's home clash with second-bottom Hereford was described as "a massive game for the football club" by Abbott.
The Carlisle chief insisted his squad was good enough to get out of trouble but admitted he is feeling the pressure of his side's worsening predicament
Abbott told the Cumberland News: "The seriousness is there for all to see now. We have shied away from it a bit because we were in a good position. That position has gradually got worse. Now we have to face up to the fact and remind the players of what they are up against and the task ahead of them. There is no hiding from it. I still think we have got a good enough side to get out of it, but we have got to be tougher, not make mistakes, defend set-pieces and protect our goal better than we did at Southend. If we don't, we are going to be in serious trouble."
Abbott, who recalled Jeff Smith and David Raven on Saturday, saw his team go down to goals from Peter Clarke, Damian Scannell and Alan McCormack at Roots Hall. The capitulation was watched by 7,789 fans in Essex including 378 travelling Cumbrians.
United remained 16th in League One after other rivals near the drop zone - Cheltenham, Crewe, Leyton Orient, Yeovil, Brighton and Hereford - failed to win.Only Swindon of the strugglers won, as they continued their revival with a 3-0 win over Hereford.
Abbott continued: "I'd be lying if I said I'm not feeling under pressure.I want my team to play better than that. For whatever reason, we weren't good enough. We looked a bit sorry for ourselves, not as tough as I want my sides to be."
Hereford's visit tomorrow night marks the start of a crucial five days for United, who then host 19th-placed Northampton next Saturday. Four of the Blues' other relegation rivals are in action Tuesday night and the picture at the foot of the table could be affected dramatically by results.
"I hate the term 'six-pointer' but there is no shying away from it - we have to get a result against Hereford. That is the message. It is a massive game for the club and we aim to make sure we are prepared, roll our sleeves up and be ready to die for this football club."
Abbott also spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey after the Cumbrians 3-0 defeat away to Southend last Saturday, Abbott suggesting later in the interview that his team have to regroup quickly ahead of Tuesday night's relegation six-pointer at home to Hereford :
"I get paid to the take the flak and I am OK with that. I understand that, that is the job you do, this is the thing that we love to do and we have to do a better job than we are doing. We thought that we had prepared right, I was reasonably comfortable this morning, we had had a reasonable week with them, a good week with them if you like. Then there is not enough on the pitch today I don't think to win the game, they deserved to win the game and we didn't, in a nutshell it is as simple as that.
"We started the game brightly, we were passing the ball around, we had a lot of possession, we were getting the ball into Danny Graham. I don't think that we were positive enough with the ball. What we said before the game was to not concede free-kicks or set-plays, and then when we do we defend them, certainly the first ball and then certainly, more importantly, the second ball."
"Then the first free-kick that they get, their first sight on goal, we are 1-0 down, a mountain to climb, Southend away, a tough, tough afternoon of work ahead of you. We have caused our own problems again and we didn't really recover from that to be honest today, we never recovered. We played in fits and starts, there were glimmers there, bits and pieces, but we didn't really come back into the game with a seriousness to win it after that initial goal had gone in, which is really disappointing."
"We have used this system quite a few times, we have played the 4-3-3 and it has been a good one for us. The thinking behind it is that we thought that it was a good way of getting control of the game in the middle of the park, which we did for 15 minutes. We were in good possession of the ball and we were frustrating them, and we popped the ball around nicely without really hurting them, but we had a good control of the game. "
"Lewis Neal and Jeff Smith in the game, has that got anything to do with the first goal, I wouldn't think that it has. Again it was a set-play that we didn't defend the first one, didn't defend the second and then the game is already slipping away from you, and then after that it was a struggle."