GARY MILLS believes York City lost belief in their 2-0 defeat against Torquay United at Bootham Crescent – a loss which extends their run without a win to seven matches.

The City chief was concerned his players looked “scared” during the Gulls clash and said his men were “desperate from the word go”.

“I thought we were poor in the sense that I didn’t see much belief out there for the first time,” Mills said. “I don’t think we did our jobs well enough. We looked scared at times.

“Even though we lost to Wimbledon a couple of weeks ago, we gave it a go. At times it wasn’t good enough.

“We looked scared to have the ball and desperate from the word go. We lost again, but we’ve probably had more possession.

“We’ve given away two silly goals. They looked poor goals in my mind. We’ve had chances.

“It’s a recipe for disaster when you are giving away sloppy goals and not taking yours and that’s what has happened to us.”

Mills reiterated the club had to stick together if they were to quickly get back to winning ways and he insisted there was no panic, despite City having won only two games at home this season.

He added: “We’ve had some good times over the last 12 months and now we are going through a bad time. It’s how you come through that bad time. We’ll come through it together. Nobody likes losing, we certainly don’t.

"We are not winning at the moment – that’s seven now – and that’s not good enough if you want to be successful. We might be finding our feet in this League, but we need to start winning now.

“We need to pick up some more points.

“We are in the wrong half of the table and we have to do something about it – and we will. We have got to pull together on it.

“There are no fingers pointed. I am as much to blame as anybody else. It’s the players, me, and everyone else in that dressing room and we will pull together and put it right.”

Mills continued: “We are not panicking. We are hurting because we can’t win at the moment. It’s not ideal in football is it? You’ve got to win. But we are not panicking. We are learning that you have got to be at your best week in and week out.

“We are learning that your job within the side and your discipline has got to be better. I thought we looked a bit open at times.

“It has got to be better. I understand that. We understand that in the dressing room and we prepare for the next one.”