JUSTIN Edinburgh has admitted the Exiles are getting sucked into a relegation battle after their disastrous 2014 continued against Dagenham.

The Exiles have won only once in 15 and some fans fear they are heading for a return to the Conference.

And Edinburgh admits that his squad need to improve to ensure they don’t squander 18 months of hard work after returning to the Football League following a 25-year absence.

“We can’t be talking about luck, we can’t say luck isn’t with us, we had enough opportunities, we’ve not taken them and the situation we are in now is very difficult,” he told the Argus.

“It’s easier said than done right now but we’ve got nine games and we’ve got to find two wins to make sure all our hard work over the season doesn’t fizzle away.

“We are in a precarious position, if we aren’t tough enough or resilient enough then we can get caught in what is going on below us.

“I’m hurting, I am a hurting guy, it’s not enjoyable, but I will do everything and the players will to make sure we make the end of this season more enjoyable than it has been (for the fans).”

Edinburgh wants a return to the ‘us against the world attitude’ needed when County were fighting Conference relegation in the 2011/12 campaign.

“We’ve largely as a group only known good times, but some of these players were here at the start when we were seeing off relegation in my first season, so one or two know the situation,” he explained.

It hasn’t always been progressive and about winning, but this is a very tough test for us and we need a siege mentality.

“We are on a very bad run and only we can get out of that.”

“We can’t be any clearer than that, games are running out and time is."