Sligo Rovers manager Owen Heary does not believe his side are in a relegation battle despite picking up just one win in the opening 10 matches in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division.
Heary’s side fell to a fifth defeat of the season to St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night in Richmond Park, meaning they have registered just seven points from a possible 30.
The Bit O’ Red sit in 10th place, with winless Limerick the only side below them in the league table.
The Shannonsiders face Rovers in the final game of the first series of matches this Saturday in The Showgrounds.
Heary has backed his team to climb the table in the coming weeks.
Asked whether he saw his side in a long-term battle to avoid the drop, he said: “I don't. We can pick up. We know we have the players to do it. We have a few out injured, John Russell before the game went off injured, we know once we get our players back then we can push on a bit. And also, some of the younger players are developing more and getting more experienced.
“As the season goes on, we will get more wins. We are all frustrated. The players are frustrated, the whole lot of us, we have put ourselves in this situation and we are the only ones that can get ourselves out of it. So we will keep working hard and push on up the table.”
“I'm still young, I'm still learning, I'll take this one on the chin and we have to move on and get ready for next Saturday's game.”
Sligo’s poor form has been one of the surprise stories of the season so far, and leaves Heary under pressure in his first season with the club having left Bohemians to take charge of the Setanta Sports Cup holders.
The comfortable win for Pat’s compounded what has been a disappointing start for the Rovers manager and the results are “not good enough for Sligo” admitted the 38-year-old.
“We thought we had turned a corner in the last couple of games. We put some good performances together and played very well against Bohs on Monday and then to put this performance in is disappointing.
“There are younger players in the team and they'll learn from this tonight. Pat's are a decent side, they are like a European team when they pass it. It's a learning curve for the younger lads and I'm more disappointed with the experienced lads not getting a grip of the game.
“It was a poor performance all around. I think we had a bit of a fear factor playing them. We probably showed them a little bit too much respect and if you do that against Pat's, they'll pass the ball very well.
“I'm disappointed at the fact that we didn't defend better, as well as creating chances. We stood off them too much and showed them way too much respect. We didn't get in their faces enough. We didn't create enough in the whole game. We didn't get enough chances for our strikers. Defensively we stood off them and allowed them to take their chances.”
It has also raised question if the bad run has been a learning curve for the five-time league winner.
He said: “Of course. I'm still young, I'm still learning, I'll take this one on the chin and we have to move on, pick ourselves up and get ready for next Saturday's game.”
