James Beattie insists he won’t quit in his bid to lead Accrington up the League Two table.
The Reds remain rooted to the bottom of the Football League after suffering an eighth straight defeat at home to 10-man Rochdale last Saturday.
The former England striker is now 11 games into his managerial career and his record makes grim reading, with nine defeats and a draw against Portsmouth.
Remarkably his only victory so far has come away to Championship side Middlesbrough in the Capital One Cup, but Beattie is determined to turn results around.
Stanley hit the road again this weekend to visit Plymouth, who themselves have slipped to 17th after losing three of their last four league games, and the Reds’ boss has the stomach for a fight.
“You’ll never see me giving up or saying anything derogatory about my players because everything’s got to be positive,” said the 35-year-old. “We’re in this together.
“The players have to process the Rochdale defeat and we’ve got to go again. We’ve got to start winning games and getting points.
”Maybe we’re waiting for things to happen in games or the lads are trying too hard,” Beattie added. “When you do that then sometimes you make the wrong decisions so I think maybe a few of the lads need to relax a bit more.
“We’re in a habit of losing games and it’s a bad one to have, but the only thing we can do is keep working hard every day to try to improve.
“We have to keep the standards up, keep doing things right and the results will come.”
Although Beattie has built arguably the strongest squad which has ever been assembled at Accrington, he’s been unable to use many of those players due to injury and suspension.
But the rookie boss refuses to complain about his plight, instead seeking ways to remedy the problems and keep improving his squad. And the worst of it could now be over.
Right-back Nicky Hunt returned from injury against Rochdale and he was joined in the Stanley defence by Lee
Naylor, who signed a short-term contract last Friday to solve Accy’s left-back problem as Michael Liddle and Laurence Wilson are still out.
After signing Hunt and Danny Webber in the summer, Naylor is the third player with Premier League experience which Beattie has managed to lure to the Store First Stadium.
“Their pedigree speaks for itself,” Beattie said of his full-backs. “Nayls is a new signing and having a player like Nicky back is like having another new signing.
“I thought they did alright on Saturday. They’ve both got high standards so they were disappointed with the result but I’m happy with the way Nayls slotted into the team.
“His delivery is first class, we just need somebody to get on the end of it.”
Missed chances cost Stanley dear last Saturday as they failed to break Rochdale down despite being a man up for half the game.
Plymouth have also been struggling for goals, though, losing 3-0 at home to Wycombe and then 1-0 at Scunthorpe last week.
Saturday’s game sees the Reds renew acquaintances with Rommy Boco, who turned down a new deal with Accy to join the Pilgrims in the summer on a one-year contract.
The 28-year-old midfielder was Stanley’s top scorer last season with 10 goals and has already scored twice in 10 games for Argyle.
However, manager John Sheridan recently admitted that the Pilgrims haven’t been making the most of his playmaking ability.
Accy drew both games with Plymouth last season and have only won one of their six league meetings with Plymouth, way back in 1959.
