Nigel Adkins admits his team needs to change its mentality if they are to turn their faltering season around.
Tranmere are winless in their last six games away from home and are currently in the relegation zone with 22 games to be played before the end of the season.
A 5-1 defeat at top of the table Walsall last weekend was Rovers’ heaviest defeat of the campaign and Nigel Adkins’s side are on the road again this week, with a trip to fifth placed AFC Wimbledon.
The Tranmere manager said: “We had a meeting with the players on Monday, quite simple. What are we fighting for? It’s the mentality, our mentality has to go up.
“Now we’ve lost games away from home. Can we win the next game? The intent is to win the next one. We can’t lose six on the spin away from home.
“I want a refocus. We’re in a relegation scrap, I don’t want to hide away from it. We’ve got to fight.
“From Monday is day one, fresh start, freshly refocus. We’ve got 22 games to go to the end of the season. We have to do everything we can to make sure that this football club can keep moving forward and especially when we talk about further investments.”
Tranmere were traling 2-0 at Walsall when Sam Finley was sent off, making Rovers’ task even tougher. A Connor Jennings goal just before the break provided some hope before a second half collapse.
Despite the scoreine and result, Adkins believes the overall performance against the run away league leaders was something to build on going forward.
He said: “We went down 2-0 and down to 10 men. We got the resilience to keep going and get ourselves back into the game.
“Obviously, we were disappointed to concede straight after half time. We had far more possession than them, but the fact of the matter is we’ve got beaten 5-1, that’s what everybody judges you on.
“Ultimately you get judged on the results, what we’re doing, what’s the process we’re going through? How can you try and give the players confidence? Because they’re the ones who cross that white line.
“There’s the noise that comes around when you’re not winning but I’ve got experience, which helps. So, it’s a challenge that we’ve got to embrace fully.”
Tranmere travel to Wimbledon on Saturday hoping to move out of the relegation zone. They will face a stern test against a side that has lost just twice at home in the league this season.
Adkins said: “They’re doing well [Wimbledon]. Set pieces are always going to be important, counter attacks, they’re at home, we’ve got to go there and do everything we can to give ourselves the opportunity to get something again.
“We’ve got to make sure we do everything we can to make sure we’re in this division next season.”
