The Cod Army were beaten 2-0 by Ipswich Town on Saturday to suffer their second successive defeat by that scoreline.
They are now only two points above 21st placed Morecambe, albeit with a game in hand, and are now winless in their last eight games.
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Crainey was a disappointed with the result, despite seeing encouraging sides, and urged his side to dust themselves off and be ready to go against Sunderland this week.
“From that point of view a little bit frustrating but we need to dust ourselves down and go again at Sunderland on Tuesday”, Crainey said post-match to the press.
“The first 10 minutes of the second half were really encouraging.
“That’s what I said to them at half-time.
“Can we get a little bit more in their faces and credit to the lads they did that.
“Frustrating but the reality is we need to dust ourselves down and go again.”
The Cod Army head coach feels that it is going to take players with a strong character to weather the storm for the remainder of the season and he is hopeful that that his squad can exert themselves and notch a few wins.
“It’s going to take a group of men to stand up and be counted”, Crainey added.
“We need men who want to stand up and fight and I’m sure I’ll get that because they are a good group.
“I’m looking forward to the final 12 games of the season and hopefully, we can get a few wins under our belt.”
Sunderland themselves go into the match on the back of two clean sheets, but they have still only won once in eight games and will be looking to get the three points against the Cod Army.