STEVE Bleasdale has warned his players they are playing for their futures in the last nine games of the season.

The Railwaymen's hopes of avoiding relegation look bleak with the club 10 points adrift of safety and only one win in the last 13 games.

But Bleasdale is not waving the white flag of surrender just yet.

"There are still nine games remaining and it gives the players the chance to show me what they can do," he said. "The future is in their hands and it is up to them to show me character and roll their sleeves up.

"I have been frustrated that I have not been able to attract the quality of player I would have liked and that has shown in our recent games. Some of the lads are young and inexperienced and it has shown. They have not gelled together as well as I had hoped.

"But we have shown good touches in patches and if we had a bit more luck could have won a couple more games."

Bleasdale is already looking towards next season and has put together a comprehensive list of players he wants.

"If we do get relegated to the Unibond Premier Division then we will look to build a team good enough to compete in the Conference North. We want to take the Unibond by storm.

"But we can't go mad. We can't go spending a lot of money if the fans are not there to match it."

Bleasdale, who has seen released skipper Mark Maddox join relegation rivals Vauxhall, has signed striker James Dunn from Burscough and he goes straight into the squad against mid-table Alfreton.