Crewe Alexandra boss Steve Davis has confessed that a lack of goals in his side has put further pressure on the backline to remain resilient.
The Railwaymen have one of the weakest goal tallies in the division, scoring just 13 all term, while up the other end they have so far shipped 22 times.
Davis's side are currently rooted to the foot of the League One table on the back of one win in their last six outings, but he believes that the margins between victory and defeat remain very slim.
"We could have won some games and ended up losing them," he told the club's official website. "That was certainly the case on Saturday when we lost in stoppage time to Gillingham. We deserved something from that game and hopefully those sorts of things will even themselves out and we can get some late winners.
"We have been in every game this season and they could have gone either way. We haven't had much luck and it hasn't quite gone in our favour in a number of those games, but there are still positives to take from the performances. We don't have those 20 goals a season striker who can score goals out of very little.
"We are looking for one of our own to do it and until we can become more free scoring then we have to remain as tight as we can and take our chances when they do come. We did at Barnsley to win the game and we will continue to try and do that."
Crewe face Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on Saturday afternoon before playing host to Sheffield Wednesday the following weekend.
