Adie Cambridge has warned his Godmanchester Rovers players to brace themselves for a relegation battle.

Rovers have won only one of their opening 10 Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division games.

They sit third-bottom of the standings in a league in which they have finished runners-up in each of the last two seasons, but it is not an altogether surprising plight following the mass exodus of a manager and an entire squad of players during the summer.

And things are not about to get any easier. Five of their six October league fixtures are against teams currently in the top six.

Boss Cambridge said: “I’ve told the players they are in a dogfight and that things need to change quickly if we are to get out of it.

“We have to start trying to pick up points on a regular basis and we will do that by learning to manage games a bit better.

“We are well aware of how tough our upcoming run of fixtures is, but I’ve given the boys a target of 10 points for October. If we can get close to that figure, it will give our season the boost it needs.”

Rovers were denied a valuable away victory at Ely City by a stoppage time equaliser in a 2-2 draw last Tuesday night.

Joe Furness’ penalty and a debut goal from new striker Calum Gawthrop allowed the locals to come from behind and hit the front, but they were denied maximum points in the dying moments.

Rovers were beaten 3-0 by Felixstowe & Walton at David Wilson Homes Ground last Saturday. All of the goals arrived in the final 20 minutes.

Cambridge added: “We did well at Ely and although I was happy with a point, it felt like a loss in the circumstances.

“We also did okay for 70 minutes on Saturday, but we collapsed after going behind.

“We have a young squad and you could sense the belief disappearing and the shoulders dropping when the first Felixstowe goal went in.

“That’s something we need to address as we can’t accept our fate so easily.”

Rovers face two trips to Norfolk in four days. They visit East coast side Gorleston this Saturday and then go to Thetford on Tuesday.