Neil Warnock eyed a positive response from his men in Sunday’s home clash with Burnley, as he held a pre-match press conference at the Vale Resort.
Ahead of a second successive home match, the Gaffer began by explaining that his men will be fully prepared for a competitive encounter with the Clarets.
“The fixture list hasn’t been too kind to us; in the first ten games we're playing nearly all of the top seven from last year,” he began. “It is a little bit cruel, but we’ve got to hang in there.
“I always believe, apart from that top six, everything is winnable in this league - and Burnley are in that category.
“We know that Sean [Dyche] has got a really good work ethic, but we have to be ready for what’s coming, and hopefully we can cause them problems.”
With tickets selling fast for Sunday's game, Neil went on to field questions about its importance, emphasising the need to keep mistakes to a minimum for the entirety of the contest.
“It isn’t must-win, but it’s a game that’s really important to us, with the fixtures coming up,” he continued.
“Winning your first game is always important. That’s why I’m disappointed so early on that we didn’t take our opportunities when we did have them. But then you’ve just got to stop feeling sorry for yourselves and get on with it.
“I can’t fault the lads. They’re trying as hard as they can. They’ve just got to eliminate the mistakes really and we need to make more of a game of it for the 90 minutes.
"That's what we need to do - get the home crowd going too, and give them something to shout about."