Charlie Charlesworth insists Elgin City must rally for the task of securing League Two survival in their five remaining games.
Charlesworth, alongside Stevie Dunn and Ross Draper, are in temporary charge at Borough Briggs following the dismissal of Gavin Price and Jim Weir at the weekend.
It followed Saturday’s 3-0 reverse to Albion Rovers, which saw City fall bottom of the league after six consecutive defeats.
Elgin have a quickfire return to action when they host sixth-placed Stenhousemuir on Tuesday.
Charlesworth says the temporary coaching team will do all they can to instil the belief Elgin can find a way out of relegation danger.
He said: “It’s a difficult time. There’s a bit of pressure on everybody, so hopefully we can try and reduce that.
“We are still in a position where we can get out of this – totally. We have to believe that, and we do.
“As everyone can see in recent weeks, it has been made very difficult for ourselves.
“We will get stuck in, we will have a gameplan for the Stenhousemuir game and go from there.
“There are teams in and around us, and we have a game in hand over a couple. We will try and make it count the best we can.
“There are livelihoods at stake to a certain extent. We need to make sure we stay in this league, and that’s what we will try and do.
“We want all supporters right behind us on Tuesday to give the players a lift, that’s the main thing.”
Charlesworth hoping to make strong impact
Elgin are inviting applications for the manager’s role, with Charlesworth, Dunn and Draper taking charge in the meantime.
Charlesworth and goalkeeping coach Dunn will be in the dugout, while defender Draper will be the coaching team’s voice on the pitch.
Former Deveronvale, Lossiemouth and Huntly boss Charlesworth hopes to strike up a successful formula.
He added: “I’m leaning heavily on Ross for the changing room side of things – he’s quite happy to lead it from that point of view.
“We will work very closely together with Stevie as well. Ross will be out on the pitch and the two of us will be in the dugout.
“It’s like anything – once you start to lose your way a little bit you start to maybe do actions on the ball which you wouldn’t normally do.
“We are a bit hasty with the ball at the moment, just through lack of confidence I think.
“We will try and address that, because it’s in the lads to play better and compete with teams.
“We mentally disintegrate a little bit when we concede, and we haven’t been scoring many by the same token.
“There are a few things we need to address. It’s difficult to say we are going to address them, but we will maybe just come from a slightly different angle in how we approach it.
“One thing that’s quite certain for me is that Kane Hester (Elgin’s top goalscorer) needs more help. We will look at that. It’s difficult to change things, but we will certainly look to address where we think we are not doing so well.
“We are a little bit hampered by injuries, which hampers the flexibility of the team.
“We will do what we can.”
Price and Weir a ‘massive loss’ to Black and Whites
Price’s departure ends a nine-year association with Elgin, having initially been assistant to Weir for three years after joining in 2014.
After Weir moved on to Forfar, Price took up the reins, with Weir returning to the club as number two last season.
Charlesworth was keen to pay tribute to the outgoing duo.
Charlesworth added: “Between the two of them, whichever way it was, with Gavin or Jim as manager, they have done tremendous things for the club.
“The club has had a lot of trust in them as well.
“Having come into it this season, I could see the enormous amount of work Gavin put into his role.
“Jim came back in as his number two, which was a good sounding board for Gavin, to help him in making decisions.
“They are a massive loss – let’s not beat about the bush – but to a degree we all have a shelf life in football.
“They have been professional when they were leaving the club.
“We wish them well and we just hope for everybody’s sake we can stay in this league.”
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