IT was a miserable day for City's players on Saturday not least because their fish and chips would have gone cold by the time they emerged from an hour long roasting by John Barton.

More seriously the 3-2 defeat at Ilkeston has raised the question of just how good this current squad is and whether Barton needs to make wholesale changes.

The Worcester manager was utterly dejected by the display as were the players but in the cold light of day it's points on the board that matter not personal feelings.

The final four games may well go a long way to determining a few careers at St George's Lane judging by the manager's comments but even four victories might just be papering over the cracks.

Worryingly for Barton the decline has been gradual but significant with just 13 points from the last 12 games surely relegation form not that of a side chasing runners up spot.

Mark Owen, who came close to snatching a late equaliser at Ilkeston, admits they just don't know what is going wrong.

"We are absolutely gutted at the moment and we spent an hour after the game just trying to pinpoint what the problem is," he said.

"John Barton has his view and we had our say but hopefully we can sort it out by the weekend."

Barton's patience with some of his under-performing players has clearly run out and the St George's Lane boss spelt out in pretty blunt terms what he thinks of their current efforts.

He is still at least a month away from finalising his retained list but it will make more interesting reading than initially thought.

The consensus seems to be that at least three or four top quality players through defence, midfield and up front are needed to improve the team.

City have unveiled their new sponsor, E&E Engineering, who are providing a five figure sum in each of a two year deal.

Barton will be hoping to have some money to spend in the summer but bringing in the right quality of player comes at a price - one rival club quoted a figure in the region of £17,000 for the services of a prized midfielder earlier in the season.

It's unlikely a club more than £600,000 in debt will sanction too many deals of that magnitude so Barton will have to don his Arthur Daley hat and crombie and do some wheeler-dealng.

One player worth a punt might be Ilkeston's young striker Aaron O'Connor who caught the eye with a fine solo goal at the weekend.

After the match Barton admitted "I'd take him now" but at present he has more pressing matters on his mind such as restoring his side's confidence and orchestrating a victory against Bath on Saturday.

With just one win in seven it could not come at a better time.