GUISELEY hit rock bottom with their 2-0 defeat by Wrexham but there is no shaking Paul Cox’s belief that they can achieve their goal of National League survival.

With 16 games to go and a nine-point gap to bridge to safety the manager is calling on everybody at the club to keep their focus.

It’s a message he will deliver to the Lions’ fans when he meets them at Nethermoor tonight along with the club’s directors.

“I will be totally honest with them. Yes, we probably need to win half of our remaining games, but I believe we must all stick together,” said the Guiseley boss.

“Being negative or downbeat doesn’t help. We have to fight for points and the supporters can help us.

“Going bottom may have changed the psychology for us, but the bigger picture remains unchanged, we are nine points from safety and need wins.

“However, we do have to play six of the teams who are fighting to stay up. We have to visit Barrow, Hartlepool, Torquay and Solihull Moors while Orient and Halifax come here.”

After failing to take a point from their last three games against AFC Fylde, Dover and Wrexham, an away trip to second-placed Macclesfield on Saturday isn’t the ideal fixture.

“Our performance levels have been good in those games, but silly errors and not taking our chances have hurt us,” said Cox.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We are the only ones who can put things right and I still feel there are a lot of twists and turns to come before the end of the season.”

After going to Macclesfield, the Lions are at home to Gateshead on Tuesday – a match that triggers a run of three matches at Nethermoor in eight days.

Maidenhead United and AFC Fylde are the opponents on February 17 and 20 respectively.

Those matches are looking increasingly important for Cox’s men.

“I remain confident we can achieve our goal this season which is to stay in the National League,” he said.