Ira Jackson questioned Hythe’s desire after a sixth successive league defeat left them in the bottom two.

The Cannons’ Southern Counties East Premier Division struggles continued in a 4-2 loss at Holmesdale on Saturday.

Steadman Callender cancelled out the hosts’ opener but Town fell 4-1 behind before an injury-time consolation from Armani-Jordan Martin.

Hythe have lost 11 of their last 12 league games since starting the season with two wins and a draw, and boss Jackson knows things have to improve.

They have progressed in the FA Vase and Challenge Cup but their league form is a major concern.

“I’ve given this group of players everything they could possibly ask for from a club, and more, and somehow they can’t muster the desire to win a game of football and the focus to do the basic things,” said Jackson.

“I’ve got to sit down with the management staff and look at how we make things better.

“Over the weeks, you lose a game and it’s ‘OK, everybody loses a game’ but when you consistently lose, you’re expecting there to be some form of response within players that they don’t want to lose again.

“But that doesn’t necessarily seem to be there.

“Ultimately, I’ve come here to help the club and rebuild and change things and make things different/better than they were last year.

“They’re definitely different but they’re not better in terms of the results on the pitch.

“As a management team, and the chairman, our work rate, our intensity, our professionalism, hasn’t changed since the start of the season; it’s actually got better but no one cares about that, they care about results.

“You trust a group of players will not just follow a game plan but manage moments but, at the moment, we’re managing moments really well for other teams.

“There’s loads of things you can coach, loads of things you can improve but ultimately the things we are losing games on are nothing to do with coaching.

“They’re just basics of football that you should have as a seven-year-old, eight-year-old, nine-year-old.

“Whether it’s confidence, whether it’s pressure of the moment, whether it’s the losing run we’re on that’s getting to the players, ultimately we have to deliver.”

Hythe host Burnham in the FA Vase second round at Reachfields this Saturday (3pm).

The competition has provided respite from the league woes in recent weeks.

Jackson remains convinced he can turn things around.

He said: “The second I stop believing I’m the man to change things, I will no longer be at the football club because I’m not going to waste anybody’s time.

“I don’t want to continue to face a group of fans who pretty much predict we’re going to lose every week and I’m telling them we’re going to do better, if I don’t believe it myself.

“If I do stop believing, that’s when I’ll do the honourable thing and say I don’t think I’m the solution because I’m the one who’s got us in this mess.

“I’m the one who’s putting all the work in, for no results, so sometimes you’ve got to think about that as well.

“If all these things are not working, and no change happens, we’re second-bottom and teams around us are starting to win games.

“When you’ve done all the hard work and we’re not getting results, it brings a bigger question than are we on a bit of a blip?

“It’s more than a blip, it seems to be the pattern we’re in and that needs to shift quickly, otherwise not many of us will still be here.”

Jackson is standing firm on his decision not to register as a player.

The 28-year-old would be an asset but retired early and turned his focus to coaching.

“There’s a reason why I stopped playing football and if the answer for us winning games is me playing football, then we need to make a lot of changes,” said Jackson.

“I, as a manager, shouldn’t be relied on to win a game for a bunch of players who are getting paid.

“It sounds like an easy fix but it speaks to a bigger problem if I’m having to come in and deliver for a group of players who say they want to play football and are happy to get paid to play football.

“It should be an embarrassment for the players for my name, almost two years after I played my last game of football, to even be mentioned.”

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