IPSWICH Town striker Rory Fallon experienced relegation from the Championship last season and he had a stark warning today for his Blues team mates.

The New Zealand international striker is on loan from Plymouth and made his full debut in Saturday’s crushing 1-0 defeat at Preston.

“I’ve been through it all before with players wanting managers to get sacked so the club brings someone else in,” said born again Christian Fallon.

“It’s wrong to wait for someone else to come in and kick us up the backside - we got to do it.

“By the time you know it you are playing catch-up. And I tell you - you don’t want to be playing catch up.”

Out of favour players at every club can make waves and when asked if some Ipswich players were not putting it all in for the boss, Fallon replied: “It’s not up to me to say.

“But we must all look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we are giving 100 per cent. That’s want the lads have got to think.”

And his honest appraisal of the situation went on when he added: “If we don’t watch it we will be in a dog-fight and then every game is a battle, a cup final.

“The effort is there and with no disrespect to Plymouth the team is there for Ipswich to move back up the table.

“You cannot leave it until the end of the season to start winning or Ipswich will be like Plymouth last year.

“I’ve been in a lot of dogfights and the only way out of it is through hard work.

“We have got to roll our sleeves up and start getting results now.

“And we have all got to ask are we working hard enough?

“Not just on the field, but in the week. Are we doing enough?

“We must have pride in ourselves and keep working - keep battling with the experienced ones helping the young ones get them through.”

Reflecting on Saturday’s latest loss, Fallon, who is initially on loan until the middle of next month, went on:

“Not once during the game did I think we would lose - we were in control.

“But that’s what happens when you are on one of these runs.

“Characters are needed with strong minds and a fighting spirit must be retrieved.

“Then we can get out of this, and the quality is there to move right up the table.

“I was looking for a good start to my first game back in the Championship and was quite pleased with how it went.

“Their keeper denied me with a couple of good saves. But it‘s all about winning and no matter how I played not winning a game like Saturday was unacceptable.”