LITTLE more than 24 hours after our very disappointing display in the "six-pointer" against Macclesfield, Leeds United were involved in a relegation battle of their own and there are parallels between the situation we find ourselves in and that of our Premiership neighbours.

Leeds certainly showed the fighting qualities against Leicester that you need. They went 2-0 up and started extremely well but then found themselves in a position where Leicester got back in the game.

But they kept going for 90 minutes and it's that time of the season when a goal in the last few minutes wins you the game and three points are so valuable as it has shown at Leeds. It's given them a realistic chance of getting out of trouble.

It's similar for ourselves. If we get three points against Cambridge tomorrow we would go level with them with a game in hand and psychologically that would give us a big lift.

Alan Smith came out and said certain players were not showing enough fight at Leeds before the Leicester game and, likewise, we have to come out and be counted and show the same passion and spirit that the supporters show.

In some ways, he was right in what he said and our players are fully aware of what I expect from them.

I don't think it's just about passion in terms of putting your head in where it hurts either. It's also about wanting the ball, stepping forward and expressing yourself in the right manner.

At least, unlike Eddie Gray, myself and Lee (Nogan) can have an influence on the pitch. I tried to shake things up on Sunday by stepping into midfield in the second half and I think it helped.

I'm hoping that all our experienced players now step forward and help the kids. Thankfully we are getting them all back and, tomorrow, we will be looking to get more or less our strongest XI out.

Home advantage for ourselves and Leeds is also going to be huge now. I have been to Elland Road a few times and they have always got right behind the team but our players have to realise that the fans will go though thick and thin to back you but it's certainly up to you to give them something to shout about.

We have four home games left against teams who could have nothing to play for. They might be more relaxed and you are hoping they just switch off a little bit and it's a good opportunity if we raise our game. On paper, we have to be happy with our run-in but that's only on paper.

We have to get the fans on our side by starting well and have to be big and hungry enough that if we do go a goal behind we fight our way back. Leicester did it from two goals down and nearly got something out of the game. It's not over until it's over and that's something our lads need to get a grasp of.

We need to make sure our game in hand counts as well. We don't want to be reliant on other people getting results for us because it does not happen like that in football and the boys will get more satisfaction if they do it themselves anyway.

Both ourselves and Leeds will also be counting the damage in terms of the football and financial implications if we are relegated. Purely from a financial aspect, going down from the Premiership would represent a big drop but the Conference levels have more or less caught up with the Third Division.

I think the biggest thing in both cases is the change in status. Becoming a Nationwide League club after being a Premiership club hurts and if you become a non-League club after being a Third Division club it's going to hurt like hell.

I don't think anybody has bounced straight back up from the Conference since Darlington a good few years ago and not too many do from the First Division. If they do, they are often still in a state of rebuilding having lost their best players.

What our players need to realise is if we go out of the League then you look at people who it's happened to in the past and there's not a great deal who get back in and offered deals at League clubs. You only have to refer to Halifax when they went down. I think only four of their squad got back into the League so, statistically, it's not great. Our boys must know that if they go out of this League there won't be many takers.

Like Leeds, we have also had money problems and knew that it could be a struggle at the start of the season before we found ourselves in this predicament. I have lost players and lost out on players purely because we can't compete financially but you can't cry over it.

Hopefully we can get through this season and get on a more level playing field. Unfortunately, there's still mitigating circumstances above our heads that we have to deal with and it might be difficult again next season but that's just the precarious position we find ourselves in.

Updated: 10:58 Thursday, April 08, 2004