What’s the story? Morning wants glory in Padiham’s battle for survival

But he acknowledges that it would be a disaster if he and Michael Morrison failed to rescue the Storks from relegation in the Hallmark Security League Premier Division.

Padiham haven’t won in 14 games across the board, clocking up just four points from a possible 39 in the top flight, and their status at level nine in the English football league system is at threat as a consequence.

Just two points separate them from the bottom two, though they have a couple of games in hand on rivals West Didsbury and Chorlton.

“When we initially came in for the job we knew we weren’t in for an easy ride,” said the 32-year-old. “It’s not easy at the minute but that’s life. We’ve got some big games coming up so then we’ll see if we’re good enough.

“We’ve got a big job on our hands. We just want to keep Padiham up. The people at this club deserve success and we want to do it for them. We’re fighting for our lives.

“I’m 100% confident that myself and Michael Morrison can do it. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t think we could do it.

“Football is a funny game. I’ve been in it for a long time. I’ve never really been in a relegation fight before and they’re not nice situations to be in.

“We’re mainly looking at Abbey Hey and West Didsbury, the results have been going our way, but we’ll still need a few favours.

“We need to match their results until the end of the season and then we’ll stay up. Then we’ve got to prepare for a massive rebuild in the summer. We are just not good enough at the moment.”

The midfielder was mainly surrounded by success as a player during spells with Stalybridge Celtic, Halifax, Salford City, Northwich Victoria and Colne.

On this occasion, having revealed that he’s ready to lace his boots back up, he understands that he’s going to have to roll his sleeves up and really dig deep.

Padiham’s battle for survival continues with a crunch clash against Hanley Town at Potteries Park tomorrow and three points would be vital.

“I’ve been in non-league football for 16 years,” he said. “I’ve played under some very good, established managers and they all go through bad patches. That’s just football.

“We’re at an awkward stage of the season where it’s impossible to bring players in. We’re having to work to a specific budget and the situation that we’re in doesn’t help.

“Players have already got clubs and, even then, nobody wants to leave a club to join a relegation battle.

“We know where we are, I’m a realist, and we know that we’ve got to beat the teams around us.

“If we don’t get the three points against our rivals then we’ve got to avoid defeat. They are all big games but these coming up are the biggest.

“I don’t want to go in to a game knowing that we are not good enough. That’s not acceptable. I fully expect us to stay up, if we don’t it would be criminal. It would be a disaster if we went down.

“We are both going to have to play now. We’ve got Michael Worthington in from the Under 23s to help so we can add our experience on the pitch.

“We’re as good as what we have so we want to get involved and see us over the line. We just need that little bit of ‘know how’ to win games. It would be terrible if we lost to Hanley Town.”