Hugo warns players of "massive week" ahead

Hugo Langton has labelled the week ahead as 'massive' for his players as he begins his plans for next season having resigned himself to the near certainty of relegation after yesterday's defeat at Concord Rangers that leaves the Hornets 16 points from safety with just 14 matches to play.

"There's not too many positives you can take from a 5-0 defeat and, to be honest, aside from the performances of Tony Nwachukwu and Dean O'Keefe, I don't think there were any. It was great to have Tony back again and he played the whole of the second half and looked really lively. Dean only had a quarter of an hour but he still managed to do more in that 15 minutes than the rest of the front line did throughout the rest of the game! But that defeat really hurt me. The one thing we've been doing recently is competing but too many of my players showed a lack of competitive spirit and that's unforgivable. I think that the boys have got so used to losing now that it doesn't hurt them like it should but I'm not having that. I hate losing. I hate the thought of going in to work on Monday morning and having my academy players waiting to take the mickey out of me. Like our supporters, I'd like to spend a Saturday night celebrating a win for a change, not another defeat !

I'm not using it as an excuse but our preparation wasn't right. I got the boys together for training on Thursday night only to be told, 2 hours before the start of the session, that we couldn't train on the pitch because it was heavy after the rain and they (Broadbridge Heath) had 2 games scheduled for the weekend. Instead, we were given a 20 by 20 space behind the goal and I can't prepare my team for a tough away game in a small area behind a goal. I paid someone out of my own pocket to watch Concord last week, to find out areas we needed to work on in training, and I've got to ask myself if it was all worth it?

But that doesn't excuse the fact that we just didn't turn up and, if we can sort out the training issues, we have a lot of things to work on this week. I'm not one to throw in the towel but, let's be honest, we've got to accept that relegation is virtually a certainty now and that we're going to be playing Ryman South football next season. I know that, the supporters know that and I think the players know that so my focus now has to be on next season, who we want to keep and who else we want to bring in so this is a massive week for the players. It's now up to them to prove to me that they deserve to be kept on. They know that they are at a great football club and that the management will encourage them to play good football but they need to prove their worth in the next 14 games.

Craig Wilkins and I need to work to ensure that we come straight back up next season, not for us to have a mediocre season, and if the current players don't perform then some of them will have no future here. I might get criticised for talking about relegation but it's next season's promotion push that I'm focusing on now and anyone who talks of anything different won't be welcome in my company.

The players owe everyone a good performance against Aveley next weekend, not least the fans who made the trip up to Canvey with us, but one thing I will give them credit for is that they're desperate to get things right. They would like to train twice a week but we know that the finances won't stretch to that so they've talked about clubbing together out of their expenses money to sort out a 5-a-side venue for Tuesday nights. But its very easy to 'talk the talk'. What I want to see now is for them to 'walk the walk'.

I love this club, and so does Wilko, and we will continue to work very, very hard to get to Horsham Football Club to where we want it to be. I don't think I'll ever experience anything like this season again but we have to remain positive and hope that the experience will make us all stronger."