PICKERING Town manager Steve Roberts admits his side face a “massive uphill task” to avoid relegation.

Pickering remain bottom of the Pitching In Northern Premier League East heading into Saturday’s clash with ninth-placed Yorkshire Amateur (3pm).

Town are now seven points adrift of safety after their 2-1 loss to Frickley Athletic.

“We’ve tried to do everything we can to put it right,” said Roberts.

“We’re really lucky that the weekend’s results didn’t go that badly against us still.

“We’re still not completely out of it although it is a massive uphill task now.

“I’d expect other sides to have written us off but we need to pick ourselves up and get points on the board, get as many as we can and see where that takes us.”

The defeat to Frickley left Pickering with just four wins from 27 league games and in a precarious position at the bottom.

However, Roberts explained that there was no “screaming and shouting” afterwards in the dressing room, “because everyone was that disappointed”.

He said: “We took the time to speak and, for the first time, we let every player have their point of view of where they think we’ve gone wrong, the last few results especially since Christmas.

“It was disappointing in terms of how big a game it was. The players knew that and we all knew that.

“It was a game we could ill-afford to lose and we have come out with a 2-1 defeat.

“I don’t think we deserved to win the game. We huffed and puffed a little bit but we didn’t create many chances.

“I think they were more organised and wanted it a little bit more on the day which is disappointing.

“We have to move on from that now. It has got to the stage now where people have probably wrote us off , I would assume, after a defeat to a side down there.

“We’ve just got to keep going.”

Elsewhere in the NPL east, Tadcaster Albion will be seeking to move further clear of the relegation places when they host play-off-sitting Shildon at the Global Stadium.

Meanwhile, Selby Town travel to 10th-placed Armthorpe Welfare.