IAN Eaton has said his Weaverham side must believe they are capable of avoiding relegation despite losing all but two of their matches this season.

The Russets fell further into trouble following a nine-wicket defeat at Urmston last Saturday, and a single victory to date leaves them 50 points adrift of a position of safety.

Slender defeats in successive matches against Sale and Warrington, direct rivals in a fight for survival, have damaged confidence according to the captain.

“Those losses were a bitter pill to swallow,” said Eaton.

“On both occasions we just didn’t score enough, which is a shame because we bowled well.

“An extra 20 or 30 runs would have made a difference.”

A side shorn of its three leading run-scorers from last season – Wilden Cornwall, Kevin Waterhouse and Matthew Jamieson – was always likely to struggle at the crease.

To prove as much, they have passed 200 only twice.

That has put pressure on a bowling attack, led by teenage seamer George McCormick, to dismiss opponents cheaply.

Eaton said: “We’re at the wrong end of the table, and it’s tough to convince guys to keep on believing in themselves when you’re losing every week.

“I think we’re good enough to survive, and there is time to get out of the position we’re in.

“The mood is still positive, and it’s been encouraging for me to see everybody stick together. We’re having fun in the field and not beating ourselves up because things haven’t gone our way.

“It’s tested me as a captain, and I’ve had to do a lot of soul-searching, but I’m determined we’ll not just be there to make up the numbers in the second half of the season.

“We’re in a battle to stay up, and nothing would make me happier than to do exactly that."

Whatever happens, he has been encouraged by the determination of youngsters like James Bell, Ryan Simm and Jake Lightfoot – as well as McCormick – in difficult circumstances.

An injury to overseas signing Cohen McElroy, who dislocated a knee against Oulton Park in May, only made their learning curve steeper.

Eaton said: “They’ve given us old boys a wake-up call.

“Those guys only have a handful of previous first-team appearance between them, but we’ve had to throw them all in at the same time.

“That’s not how we’d have planned it necessarily, but we’ve not got the luxury of doing so gradually.

“They’ve learned so much, and that bodes well for the club’s future.”