CLUB captain Grant Leadbitter has today issued a grim warning to his under-performing team-mates – “we are not too big to go down”.

The Blues kicked off 2012 in miserable fashion and yesterday’s 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest moved them to within three points of the relegation zone.

And despite boasting a squad that many divisional rivals would envy and facilities to match, Leadbitter knows he could be leading a side into League One unless things improve and fast.

The skipper said: “The table doesn’t lie and no-one is too big to go down. We have got good players but sometimes they don’t play well and people need to realise that.

“I would say stick with the team, as we do have good players and there is a good bunch of lads at the club. We are hurting but for some reason it is not happening for us.”

Although another home defeat – Town’s eighth this season – was met by a chorus of boos from disgruntled fans, Leadbitter denied that the pressure was back on manager Paul Jewell.

But Jewell’s counterpart, Forest boss Steve Cotterill, believes his side’s victory had sucked Town into the relegation dogfight.

Forest remain in the bottom three but they are now just three points away from Ipswich in 19th and Cotterill said: “I thought we deserved to win and that victory means we have gained ground on a number of sides, including Ipswich.”

Leadbitter knows that basic errors – at both ends of the pitch – have to be cut out for Town to have any chance of moving up towards mid-table safety.

He said: “There are errors from everyone and we keep making the same mistakes every game.

“People might disagree with me, but I thought we played quite well. But we can’t give goals away like we have been – we are doing it far too often and when you give those types of goals away, it is always hard for the team.

“We made two errors in the first half and they scored two, we had five chances and don’t score. If you don’t do that, you struggle. It is errors at both ends from the whole team.”