CAPTAIN Danny Jackman has urged his team-mates to “pull their finger out” and “demand more from each other” in a bid to stop Worcester City’s “downward spiral”.

Third-from-bottom City extended their winless run to 14 matches on Saturday with a demoralising 2-0 defeat at rock-bottom Altrincham.

Jackman admitted the changing room was “very flat” after an “awful” performance against a side who had not won since October.

However, the 34-year-old, who is assisting caretaker boss John Snape, insists City’s players cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves and have got to be prepared to “take the initiative” in matches to turn their form around.

“We need to start fighting for each other a little more and upsetting each other if things aren’t going well,” said the Worcester-born midfielder.

“We need to tell each other and not take it personally as we will be doing it for the good of the team.

“We have got some young lads out there but we have also got a bit of experience so we all need to demand more from each other and take the initiative ourselves rather than waiting for somebody else to do it.”

Worcester arrived at Moss Lane with a good chance of securing their first league win since November 12 and climbing out of the drop zone.

But they fell behind after just nine seconds with Elliott Newby opening the scoring before Chris Lynch volleyed in a second on 12 minutes.

“To concede from the very first kick-off was amateurish and set the standard for the whole game,” Jackman said.

“You can’t start the game like that and expect to compete against a side like Altrincham who scrapping for their lives.

“We had a go in the second half as we got into some good positions but the keeper didn’t have to make a save.

“If you want to try to stay out of trouble at this level you are going to need to score goals and at the minute we are not.

“We are creating bits and pieces but we were awful. It was really flat in the changing room as we were really disappointed and angry with each other.”

Jackman, who has made 19 appearances this term, recently returned to the side after a back injury ruled him out for almost two months.

And the former Northampton Town and Gillingham player is determined to help his home club avoid the drop.

City, who are two points adrift of safety, face play-off chasing Darlington at Bromsgrove’s Victoria Ground on Saturday (3pm).

“I have been out for a while so I have been watching the downward spiral and once that happens it is really hard to stop,” he said. “Losing becomes a bit of a habit so we need to try to break that any way we can and get some points on the board as quickly as possible.

“We have got some really tough games coming up so we are going to have to pull our finger out and not feel sorry for ourselves.

“We need everyone pulling in the right direction, attitude has got to be spot on, body language has got to be better and only we can put it right.

“We will get ourselves organised in the week and get the lads back up again as we have got another tough game against Darlington.”