Dean Windass reckons the old guard must take a leading role in lifting City's spirits.

After a month without a win, morale has dipped at Valley Parade.

And Windass knows that the senior statesmen like himself can have a crucial say in arresting the slump by lifting their younger team-mates.

The striker said: "It's up to the older players, like myself, to take the weight off the shoulders of the young ones. They look for that inspiration and leadership from the experienced lads, like I did when I was their age.

"Some of the young lads won't have experienced it before when things aren't going well. I've been in that many situations when we've been beaten by four or five and you've got to look for a response.

"But it's also the time when everyone has got to look at themselves in the mirror, instead of listening to what other people think.

"Some young players will see they've got seven out of ten in the paper and think they've done their jobs. But you've got to question yourself - Have I really done it properly?' "We've let ourselves down in recent weeks and it was terrible at Blackpool. But it's a collective thing now to turn it round."

Windass has not scored since hitting a double at Doncaster in September - but he has had few opportunities to claim his 200th career goal.

"I'm not one of those players who can run past four or five lads but if people create the chances for me then I will score goals," he said. "Unfortunately that's not been happening - I don't think I've had a proper chance in the last four or five games.

"But that's down to me as well. We've all had a little dip as a team and that's a bitter blow because we'd been going so well.

"The manager has said that I'm probably trying to link up with play too much rather than getting in the box. I've been dropping too deep looking for the ball so I'm not in the position to get on the end of things.

"It's down to frustration because things haven't been going right.

"I'm not bothered about the 200th goal because I know that will come. It's more important that we start getting results again and pick ourselves up."