RELUCTANT manager Keiran Fish admits the 'horrible' prospect of relegation would be best for Tenbury Town.

Bottom of the Herefordshire County League Premier Division with one win and 11 defeats from 12 league matches, a drop back to Division One after two seasons looks increasingly likely.

And while it flies in the face of everything centre-half Fish stands for as a player, he concedes that this season has been a reality check.

“Not a lot has changed from last season from our point of view but we had teams like Orleton in the league that were not as good as us,” said Fish.

“That gave us a bit more motivation to stay up, thinking we could compete in there. Now those teams have either got relegated or created new sides.

“We have the worst team in the league now, even though we are pretty much as we were last season.

“I don’t think it is down to player performance, we go out and give 100 per cent every game, it is just that everyone else is much better than us.

“Part of it is being unable to get a consistent team out. My line-up changes every week, partly because I like to give people game time.

“I am called the manager but have taken the job that nobody else wanted, I would prefer not to and concentrate on playing myself.

“If you look at Tenbury United, they put out their best team as much as possible and still lose games. We want to win, obviously, but it is very hard so I try to give all of our boys 20 or 30 minutes each.

“Sometimes lads at other clubs don’t even get five minutes. You pay to play football so I try to give the boys that game time.

“Thinking of being relegated is horrible. We did so well last season and when we won Division One there was a lot of excitement about competing in the big league.

“We did compete last season but now it has gone the other way. I think relegation would be a blessing.”

Despite the dilemma of seeing the positives of a step back, Fish insists his charges will keep giving their all and he is trying to lift the mood by organising off-field activities such as paintballing.

“It is good for team morale to win games but after we lose, we try to get together to forget the loss,” he added.

“We are six points off second bottom, I hope we win a couple more games but I cannot see Tenbury United and Kington Town going through the rest of the season picking up nothing.

“You never know in football. Teams drop out of leagues as well but that won’t happen to us, I can guarantee we will still be going until the end with a good team morale.

“It is demotivating but inevitable that sometimes your best is not good enough.”

Saturday’s trip to Holme Lacy was postponed. Town’s next fixture is at home to Westfields reserves on January 5.