Team manager Chris Louis has warned his under-performing Witches to ‘buck their ideas up’ following their Northern nightmare at the weekend.

After defeats at Scunthorpe, Workington and Glasgow, Louis pulled no punches over his team’s performance and admitted they were in a “precarious position” as they chase an end-of-season play-off spot.

In a revealing interview, Louis bemoaned his team’s inability to adapt to difficult conditions at Scunthorpe before citing a lack of preparation ahead of the Glasgow defeat.

“It is hugely frustrating for me, more than I could have ever imagined,” insisted Louis who won’t be looking to make team changes.

“I wouldn’t say I am happy with what I have got and it’s fair to say that several of the boys need to buck up their ideas.

“Our play-off position is precarious, given the positions of other teams and their fixtures in hand, and although we are not at that stage where we will be putting loads of pressure on ourselves, we do have to perform.”

The Witches, who host Rye House on Thursday, began the weekend with a heavy 55-38 defeat at Scunthorpe, before throwing away an eight-point lead with four heats left to lose 47-43 at Workington.

On Sunday, Glasgow inflicted more misery on the Witches, 53-40 and left Louis to deliver a stark assessment of his team’s failings, starting with the defeat to Workington.

“With four heats to go they (Workington) took a long break for a track grading and that knocked us out of our rhythm, they did the perfect job on us,” added Louis.

“At Scunthorpe, they prepared a very hard, slick track and the first half of the meeting which we lost by 19, with two tactical rides, was a reflection of how poor we were.

“The lads probably did not adjust to the track conditions for the opening eight races but they are good enough and should be very focused and able to adapt to tough conditions.

“Sunday’s defeat was a case of one too many meetings and lots of miles took their toll.

“I don’t think the team, individually, were prepared well enough for varying reasons, although I don’t want to take anything away from Glasgow.”

Meanwhile, Louis is confident Adam Ellis will be fit for Thursday, after the youngster suffered a heavy fall in the defeat at Glasgow and was withdrawn from the meeting.