BOTTOM of the table and running out of players, 1874 Northwich need their fortunes to change in 2024 and quick!

The 2-1 home defeat to Witton Albion on Boxing Day, the 5-0 loss at Kidsgrove Athletic on Saturday and results elsewhere have resulted in the Greens drifting into the cellar spot in Northern Premier League West.

And on top of that, centre half Matty Fenton is facing ‘a few weeks’ on the sidelines after his ‘derby’ ended early through injury, plus midfield maestro Matt Woolley has a suspension on the way following his 43rd-minute dismissal against Witton.

A Townfield record crowd of 1,018 brought in some much-needed cash, but four games into his reign in charge manager Damian Crossley and his men have challenges ahead.

He will look to build on the improved second-half performance shown against Witton.

“I thought in the first half against Witton we perhaps had a bit of a hangover from Saturday and we weren’t confident enough on the ball. We weren’t aggressive enough in general play,” said Crossley.

“Second half I thought we were terrific and I couldn’t have asked any more of them. Went down to 10, started playing more, kept the ball more, created more.

“And then they came up with a goal that we probably should have stopped and unfortunately after that we lost Matty Fenton and ended up going down to nine men.

“Then we struggled to keep the ball to get ourselves up the pitch.

“But all in all, coming off the back of Saturday, I was really happy with the second half.”

1874 visit Nantwich Town on New Year’s Day, kick-off 3pm.

They will work on trying to fix a few areas at training today, Thursday.

But Crossley added: “At the moment it’s about trying to get everyone fit and back.

“We’re probably going to need some reinforcements, going to need to bring in two or three because we’re really down to the bare bones.”