Ayr United stopper Markus Fjortoft insists he and his team-mates are letting down boss David Hopkin.
The giant Norwegian has called on the dressing room to stand up and be counted following last night's 2-0 defeat at home to Raith.
The result and performance led to a testing night with fans venting their anger.
And Fjortoft, one of a clutch of summer signings, admits it was tough to take.
He told the Ayrshire Post: "We're disappointed that as players we let ourselves down – but more than anything we let the gaffer down.
"He brought many of us here – so I speak for a lot of us when I say that hurts.
"It's not good enough to concede two avoidable goals like we did.
"But we now have to face the severity of the situation.
"For us it's about sticking together because we know the work that we put in every day.
"There are only four games gone – 32 left – so there's plenty of time to put it right.
"The coaches put in a lot of work and lay the framework and ultimately it's up to us as players to carry that out on the pitch.
"So it hurts when the fans shout what they do about Hoppy because he becomes the face of our bad form.
"I don't like to hear it but we can't be two-faced about what's happening.
"We are a team here and you don't want to let someone down when they believe in you."
Fjortoft spoke in the wake of last night's defeat which leaves Ayr with one point from their opening four games.
They now welcome bottom of the league Dunfermline Athletic in the cinch Championship on Saturday.
He added: "Maybe we need to be a bit more courageous on that pitch but we're all looking at ourselves – myself included.
"We have the quality within the squad to go and perform.
"But games, like life, are about small margins and right now it's not going for us.
"So we have to acknowledge it's not going for us and put that right.
"We know what we can do and right now we're in a slump but we know we can come out of it.
"You either go for it or you can choose to just shut down – and that is not an option."
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