Brechin City manager Jim Weir has called on his senior pros to help turn around a late-season slump that is threatening to sink their promotion hopes.
A wretched run of results has taken the Glebe Park club from being near certainties for one of the three play-off places to a situation where four points may be needed from their last two fixtures just to scrape in.
Weir believes a combination of refereeing decisions, suspensions, loss of form and tiredness have all played a part in the dramatic downturn.
The time has come though for a line to be drawn in the sand, he insisted, and for the Scottish Cup quarter finalists to “finish the job off.”
“We’ve got to find a way of getting those four points,” he said. “These next two matches (away to Stenhousemuir, then home against Ayr United) are huge for us.
“It’s still in our own hands and any sort of result at Stenhousemuir (a draw or a win) will keep it that way for our last match.
“But if we don’t believe in ourselves that could change after Saturday.
“I really need my experienced players to help us finish the job off. I know I’ve got the characters in the dressing room to do that.
“We need to be mentally strong to see it through.”
The sending-off of striker David McKenna midway through the first half of Brechin’s derby defeat to Forfar was a prime example of the crucial decisions that Weir believes are going against his side on a regular basis at the moment.
He said, “I’ve looked at it five times on the video and it’s an absolute disgrace.
“The referee said he was looking the other way so didn’t see the incident, which beggars belief as that would have meant he was looking away from the ball. So it was the linesman’s decision and he’s got it wrong it’s as simple as that.
“The week before at Peterhead we were denied a stonewall penalty at the end of the match, which their player couldn’t believe wasn’t given.
“We’ve also had Rory McAllister sent off for diving at Livingston when it was a definite penalty. These things are costing us. They say that they even themselves out over the course of a season. Well, we need that to start happening.
“Having said that, we’re making bad decisions ourselves which are contributing to our own downfall.
“We’ve lost about as many goals in our last seven games as we had the entire season before that.
“A lot of my players have looked really tired recently and all our midweek games are taking their toll.
“There’s also been a loss of confidence from some, and that’s why I now need my experienced players to lead by example.”Weir will have McAllister and Ewan Moyes available on Saturday, but McKenna and Paul McLean are now banned.