IT has been another truly disappointing week for us and we know that we are well, well beyond the stage of calling our run of bad form a blip.

If you lose three on the bounce, it’s a blip. Even if you go five or six without a win, a blip, as long as you turn it around.

But when we are talking about eight games without a win and only one win from our last 15 games, it become obvious that we have a very serious problem and the fixtures we have this week are likely to be absolutely vital to us.

The fact is, our next three games are all against teams below us and it is high time we showed we still have fight and ability by getting the positive results that we need.

If we beat Torquay today, I honestly think that kills any talk of relegation absolutely stone dead.

No one in this group believes we will go down, but we know we have no divine right to win football matches and we need a big improvement on what we have been producing recently.

If we don’t beat Torquay today we are right in the mire and there is no point pretending differently.

But either way, we know that the next seven days are massive for us with Bury to come to Rodney Parade and Portsmouth (who we’ve already beaten twice this season) visiting next weekend.

These are all sides below us in League Two and it’s vital that we don’t do what we did in midweek and slip-up and lose a game we should’ve at least drawn and if we are honest, we probably should have won it.

But the situation, ultimately, is what it is. No one is happy with how we are performing and the results that are hurting us, but we can’t cry about it, we have to stand up and be counted.

The dressing room isn’t the best at the moment, the spirit hasn’t been fantastic because the players are hurting, but we know what needs to be done.

We’ve worked far too hard to get where we are to let it slip away and some of the boys are playing for their futures at this club and they need to prove to the gaffer that they belong here.

It’s certainly come as a big boost to us to bring Wales international Darcy Blake to the club, another Gwent lad joining myself, Byron Anthony and Tony James in appearing for his local team.

Darcy is a fantastic player, I can recall well how he handled Wayne Rooney brilliantly for Wales against England a couple of years ago, but he’s hardly played in the past year or so.

There is a bit of an age-gap between Darcy and I, he’s the right age, but I met him for the first time properly yesterday and I was really impressed with his attitude and his desire, he seems genuinely excited to be here.

It’s one of those situations likely to be win-win, because Darcy badly needs games and we have been conceding too many goals.

And while there might be some questions over Darcy’s fitness and the possibility of him picking up a little niggle or two, he’s hardly going to struggle for quality is he?

There aren’t too many strikers in League Two of Wayne Rooney’s calibre!

We have singed Kevin Feely as well and he’s got a good pedigree, he was chased by Everton as a youngster and he’s already been on loan at Carlisle and AFC Wimbledon.

So he knows the Football League, he’ll hopefully be fresh and I am sure the gaffer is hoping he’ll produce something similar to Deji Oshilaja earlier in the season.

With Byron picking up an injury and Ismail Yakubu being out, we were getting to the bare bones in defence and this should boost us significantly.

So all that is left is for me to wish you a safe trip to Torquay. I know our fans are travelling in big numbers and trust me when I tell you that it makes a world of difference to the players to know we’ve got that support.

Let’s hope we can bring some smiles back to your faces, starting today.