Armagh City players need to pull together to halt their slide into troubled waters.
That’s the view from inside the changing room with skipper Padraig Judge issuing a rallying call to his team-mates.
City have now lost five in a row – a run which has seen them eliminated from three cup competitions as well as slump to home and away league losses.
After an encouraging start in which they hit seven in an Irish Cup win and picked up four points from two PIL matches, it’s been incessant struggle ever since for the Holm Park side.
The latest injection of pain came on Saturday when they were beaten by two second half Newington goals.
Now it’s a waiting game for Shea Campbell’s side with their next meaningful fixture not until December 7.
Judge said: “We have to continue to work hard on the training ground and constantly improve.
“We are only a few games into the league so there is a long way to go.
“We have shown we can match the top teams within our league and with the structures and philosophy Shea and the rest of the staff have put in place, we won’t be far away come the end of the year.”
Every side – whether on a fine winning run or desperately hunting for a victory of any sorts – wants the games to keep coming.
But Armagh must now sit on their hands until the second weekend in December before they next kick a ball in anger.
Having exited all of the cup competitions available to them, the structure of the third-tier means their punishment is two-fold.
That run of inactivity is stark with just that game at home to Banbridge Town and a visit to league leaders Annagh United scheduled to come before we hit 2020.
And Judge admitted: “It is frustrating. It is difficult to gain any sort of momentum when you are waiting weeks for a game.
“When you lose a match, you want to go straight into training, work hard and put things right the following week but we don’t have that luxury.
“We have a changing room full of players who know that past performances in cup games of late have not been good enough and everyone is keen to right the wrongs and push on in the league with some performance and results.”
He added: “I think the boys worked extremely hard throughout Saturday’s game and made it very difficult for Newington to settle.
“We controlled the game well in spells and had some great passages of play but we were unable to capitalise on the chances created.
“Newington are a very good side and once they broke the deadlock with a great strike from distance through a counterattack,we were forced to chase the game and Newington began to get more chances.
“I believe at the very least a draw would have been a fair result with both sides playing some very good football.”
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