NEIL Danns remains confident he and his team-mates can fight their way out of the relegation mire.

Defeat at Reading on Saturday extended the Whites' winless run to 11 games and with just one victory all season, it is easy to understand their perilous position at the foot of the Championship.

But midfielder Danns is far from defeatist and while naturally disappointed with the barren run, he has the belief the tide will eventually turn.

"At the end of the day, we just all need to keep fighting," the Liverpudlian told the club.

“It’s tough times at the moment, but the boys are still confident we can get ourselves out of this.

“We were in the same position a year ago and the gaffer rallied us which he’s doing now.

"I am positive that we’ll get ourselves out of this."

Danns turned 33 yesterday but was in no mood to celebrate after Saturday's 2-1 reverse.

The Whites began the game brightly and Danns, who was recalled to the starting line-up for the first time in three matches, accepts they should have capitalised when the early chances came their way.

Once the first goal went Reading's way, heads dropped and the Wanderers midfield man says that is probably down to the club's position and a lack of confidence – something the team spoke about in the dressing room post-match at the Madejski Stadium.

He said: "You’re always disappointed to lose, but especially after the good start that we had.

"We know that we could have been at least two goals up in that time.

“In the first 25 minutes, we really thought it was going to be our day.

"Even in the second half, we probably dominated the ball more and you could see in the last 10 minutes how much they were holding on.

“It was so frustrating to go behind and then concede again so quickly afterwards when we felt we were on top in the game. We’re massively disappointed.

“There probably is a bit of a confidence issue.

"We sat in the changing room afterwards and spoke about it because we desperately need to figure out why when we concede, we’re not just conceding the one goal.

“We know that we need to improve on that – we need to steady the ship and give ourselves a chance to stay in the game.

“You only have to ask any teams that are down there at the moment and they’ll tell you that confidence is a massive thing.

“When you’re winning every week, it’s easy to get the ball back and go again, but obviously we’re in a hard position at the moment."

Danns and his team-mates have a longer-than-usual wait to try and bounce back with their next outing on Monday night at home to Brentford.

The Bees head north in good form after just one defeat in their last seven matches – a run that has taken them to within four points of the play-off spots and earned current head coach Lee Carsley the Championship's manager-of-the-month award for October.

But the Whites' home form – just one defeat in eight league games – gives Danns hope of a more positive result in front of the live TV cameras.

A repeat of last season's outcome would do nicely for Wanderers when the midfielder opened the scoring in a 3-1 win at the Macron Stadium.

It would also reward the loyal fans who Danns admits have been supportive in difficult times.

The Whites star added: "At home, we’ve only lost one game and we’ve got one next Monday against Brentford and we have to put it right.”

“The support we get from the fans is massive. We so appreciate their backing and those who were there on Saturday will have seen that we are fighting and we are giving it our all.

“It’s just not happening for us at the moment but we want to repay their faith and turn it around.

“We can’t keep saying the same things though after every game – as a player, you get embarrassed doing that.

“Ultimately, you can keep saying things but we have to do something about it and our next game is massively important because it’ll only get worse if we don’t and that’s the last thing we want.”