Scarborough Athletic's Nathan Valentine says it is time to man up

Boro have dropped off the pace in recent weeks with a run of four successive defeats in all competitions.

But, with some big festive fixtures ahead of them, Valentine is confident that their quest for honours can continue.

“It is harsh, losing these games ruins your weekend,” said Valentine.

“I know the lads feel the same as well, especially when they are reading things on social media about people thinking that they are not trying.

“You have to be a winner to play for Scarborough though, you can’t afford to let your head go down, you have to man up.

“When your back is against the wall you have to come out fighting and show that you can deal with the expectation.

“Maybe some of that has been lacking in recent weeks, but we have to make sure we get it back as a group and as soon as possible.”

Valentine is now confident that the blip in form is over heading into a weekend off and a trip to Workington the weekend before Christmas.

He added: “Every team has a blip and we’ve had ours now, it is over as far as I’m concerned.

“In the past we have always shown that we can bounce back and this will be no different.

“Things have been changed around a bit in recent weeks, the gaffer (Steve Kittrick) has looked at new systems because he believed that we were becoming too predictable.

“We are all good enough players to take that on board, but I think we are going back to the tried and tested way from now on in.

“What better way to bounce back for us at Workington. It is a massive trek, the pitch won’t be great and we owe them for the FA Trophy loss. We’ll all have to dig in.

“Obviously I’ll be hoping to play a part in it too after I have been left out in recent weeks because it has been frustrating watching from the sidelines.

“I think the team has been missing my energy in the middle of the park, hopefully some of my passion and endeavour in there will rub off on the rest of the lads.”