RUGBY Town boss Carl Adams insists it is not time to panic but accepts his side must improve following a difficult start to the 2023/24 season.
Valley suffered a sixth successive defeat in all competitions with a 3-1 loss away at Coleshill Town to drop into the Northern Premier League Midlands relegation zone.
And having won just two of their opening nine matches, Adams is under no illusions as to the scale of the task ahead of him.
Adams said: “We all knew this league would be challenging, but we haven’t been good enough so far and we are working hard to bring in players of the necessary quality to compete more effectively.
“I’m not panicking yet, but I’m definitely not in denial either and I know what needs to be done, and hopefully we’ll be able to get at least a couple in that are capable at this level before the weekend.
“We haven’t properly replaced the key players that we have lost from the squad that ended last season.
“And it hasn’t helped that we’ve been without our two main goalscorers either in David Kolodynski and Jordan Wilson.”
However, Kolodynski should be back available again this weekend after missing nearly two months with a broken wrist.
In defeat against Coleshill, Loyiso Recci’s penalty briefly drew Valley level at Pack Meadow as Theo Rowe started and completed the scoring for the home side with George Washbourne also on target.
Adams added: “I don’t think we were that far off [against Coleshill]. We had a decent spell and when we got the equaliser, I thought we could even go on to win it from there.
“They then punished us for a lack of concentration and you could see our confidence evaporate from that point unfortunately.
“But we will try and lift the players ahead of what is bound to be a couple of tough matches coming up.”
Rugby are next in action at home to Anstey Nomads on Saturday, October 14 with kick-off at 3pm at Butlin Road.
