'I'm doing everything I can' ... Alex Bruce on trying to be the saviour of struggling Rotherham United
The Millers have lost every game in October
Frustrated boss Alex Bruce voiced his commitment to reviving Rotherham United after three years of heartache as he analysed the club's latest defeat today.
The head coach has been charged with stopping the rot, but four successive losses - three of them in League Two - have killed the early-season momentum the Millers were building.
Fans booed for the second game in succession as their side were beaten 2-0 at Fleetwood Town to remain in 20th spot ahead of the round of fixtures later in the day.
"A few have tried to change it," said Bruce following two relegation in three years before his arrival. "It's tough. However, I won't let myself not have the fight, I won't let myself not have the challenge.
"I hope I'm the man to turn it around. I really do. I'm doing everything I can."
Rotherham went in at the break level at Highbury Stadium but then fell behind only seconds after Bruce had urged his players to keep being tight at the back.
"It's very disappointing," he said. "First half, I felt as if we could have played a little bit more. I was reasonably pleased with how we defended our box and with the shape of the team.
"At half-time, the message was: 'More of the same defensively, but can we try to pose more of an attacking threat.' We came out and conceded straight after half-time, then we gave the game away by conceding another goal in a very similar manner.
I sound like a broken record, but it's the same thing at the minute - we have to do the basics better and defend the box better. That's what's undone us today. We had chances where we put balls in their box and, unfortunately, didn't make their keeper work enough."
Fleetwood followed up Shaun Rooney's 46th-minute strike with an 80th-minute header from Ronan Coughlan that sealed their victory.
Their second goal came after a period of Millers pressure inspired by four simultaneous substitutions eight minutes after the restart.
"For large parts of the second half, we looked like a team that was going to equalise," Bruce said. "But when they make it 2-0, we let our heads drop, and the disappointment of the last couple of weeks we've had took over.
"I've just said to the players, you've got two home games now and we need a response.
"Confidence can come back into any team very, very quickly. It was only four weeks ago where we go to Northampton Town, win ugly 1-0 and the confidence was there.
The players look edgy, they look low on confidence. The only way out of it is by rolling our leeves up, having a go and getting ourselves out of the situation that we've put ourselves in."
After a 1-0 fourth-tier loss at Exeter City on October 3, Rotherham fell to Bradford City in the Jersey Mike's Trophy and then slipped to a 4-1 home defeat against Gillingham last weekend.