Heat-on Great Harwood GREAT Harwood Town manager Denis Underwood has vowed to battle on and get his side out of trouble.

Underwood was in upbeat mood despite Town slipping to the bottom of NWCL Division One following the defeat at fellow strugglers Leek CSOB.

He said: "We still have 22 games to play so there is no need to panic just yet. We are going to have a good talk this week about how we are going to tackle the situation.

"We haven't been playing that badly in recent games but we just need a break to get our season going again. The next six or seven games are going to crucial to us."

He added: "A few weeks ago I was feeling a bit down but I won't walk away.

"However, in these sorts of situations it is sometimes taken out of your hands."

Underwood did admit that the Saturday's defeat was a blow as Leek leap-frogged the Showground side at the foot of the table.

Leek grabbed the only goal of the game after 21 minutes when keeper Russell Whalley missed a cross which was headed home by Leek centre forward David Heaton.

But Underwood's men did create enough chances to get something out of the game.

And had Paul Walker not been crudely chopped down on the edge of the area when clean through on goal, Town would have got a share of the spoils.

The Leek defender was sent off for the cynical foul but Town failed to capitalise from the free kick.

It capped off a dismal day for Walker who had one effort ruled out for offside and he also got in the way of one goalbound effort from Warren Peake in the first half when Town enjoyed a 10 minute spell just before the break.

Martin Horsfield was guilty of spurning a one-on-one chance while Peake and Walker also missed good chances.

Underwood added: "We had plenty of possession but not the quality when it mattered.

"Next week we have a massive game against Cheadle Town. A win would take us above them and we have four games in hand."