Corinthian-Casuals boss James Bracken admitted his side are in a relegation dogfight following the 2-0 loss to Lewes on Tuesday night.

The defeat extends Bracken’s worst period of form in his four years at King George’s having not won in seven matches.

“We need to fight now,” said Bracken following the loss. “We need to be hard to beat. We’ll need to nick a few games. It might not be the prettiest but we are where we are and that calls for a sense of reality to ensure we get the job done.”

Casuals looked solid in the first half and Hamilton Antonio had the best opportunity to put the hosts ahead but failed to get a meaningful shot off despite weaving a mazy run into the six yard box.

But Lewes dealt Bracken a major blow just after the hour mark when substitute Kieron Pamment struck at the far post to give the Rooks the lead. Casuals created little of note and into time added on, Lewes sealed the deal when Luke Blewden raced through to beat keeper Danny Bracken and round off a poor night for the home side.

“We’re not bottom,” continued Bracken. “We’re not thinking that we must win the majority of our games, but we still have to pick up points here and there.

“The next three games after Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday will be against sides competing for the title or playoffs.

“After that, we’ll have five massive games now at the end of the season where we’ll probably have to get three wins out of those. That’s not a position that anyone wants to be in, but we are.

“I find it hard to accept the position that we’re in. I look at teams in and around the top ten that I know we’re better than. That’s easy for me to say it and the table doesn’t lie, but on our day, we’re as good as anything in this division. We’ve proved that against the top sides. Against the top nine, we’ve played fifteen games and won seven of those. We’ve won nearly 50% of our games against the top nine. It’s the inconsistency in us that’s put us where we are.

“There’s no excuse not to be up for every match at this level. No disrespect to anyone, but when you’re playing your Potters Bar’s or your Brightlingsea’s, you have to be up for those as much as the perceived big games. All of the sides at this level have won promotion from the level we were playing at for years. Lewes and Carshalton came up with us. Burgess Hill, at the bottom won promotion a few years ago with a record points tally. Whoever you’re playing in this division, they’re proper football clubs who at the very least, were top sides from the tier below.

“Every single game, we’re massive underdogs. It’s like us playing Lewes or Carshalton last season, every single week. We must be up for every single match. In the league below, you can win at 70% but in the Premier, we need to be at 100% week-in, week-out. There’s no room for a lull. We need to be focused, committed. Unfortunately, when we’ve faced teams in and around us, there’s perhaps still that perception that there is room for complacency. We need to look at ourselves regarding that.”

Casuals host Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday.