SANDBACH captain Ray Jones has called on his side to 'get nasty' in their basement battle with Southport on Saturday.
Jones is disappointed his team finished on the wrong end of an 18-6 scoreline at Rochdale at the weekend, and Sandbach now find themselves third from bottom of the Euromanx South Lancs and Cheshire League.
The first team face a must-win game at home against bottom club Southport at Bradwall Road.
Skipper Jones said: 'We are playing the bottom club and we must win.
'We took a 3-0 lead against Rochdale, and felt confident. But I think we are a bit naive and soft sometimes and teams are rolling us over.
'Perhaps it is time to get nasty. We need to keep our concentration for the full game and turn our possession into points. The league table shows we are scoring almost as many points in games as other teams, but are often beaten by a small margin. That has to stop because we are in a bit of bother in the table now.
'Any team in this situation at Christmas could face going down. We need to realise that and start coming up with the goods.'
The boot of Andy Rollings provided the points for Sandbach, with a penalty in either half. Kick-off on Saturday is 3pm. Sandbach seconds wracked up the casualties as they fought out a tough 17-17 draw with Burnley on Saturday.
Scott Anderson dislocated his shoulder and Tom Atkinson fractured his jaw in the first-half, forcing a Sand-bach reshuffle.
Burnley took advantage and opened the scoring with a powerful try, and doubled their advantage.
Sandbach persevered and some quick lineouts and swift passing from Chip Woods and Chris Greenhalgh allowed Dan Butler to score a well worked try.
The speed and pace of Ryan Phelps saw him fire home two tries to give Sandbach a 17-12 lead, but Burnley responded with a try, which was not converted to keep the score level. Sandbach thirds held on to beat neighbours Northwich 19-17.
Tries from Richard Pickford (2) and Stuart Milward, plus conversions by Chris Watson, were enough to survive Northwich's second-half fight back.
Sandbach U15s beat Chester 31-0 with tries from Colvin (3), Sutherland, and Pollen, with three conversions from Gaskell.
The U12s lost 19-14 to Wilmslow, while the U10s thrashed Wilmslow 40-0.
