PLYMOUTH Argyle head coach Wayne Rooney admits he and his team have a real ‘desire’ to put to an end to their barren run of form in the Sky Bet Championship.

Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat at home to Swansea City heaped further pressure on the Pilgrims, who sit just one place off the foot of table, having won just once in their last ten games.

It’s certainly a testing time for Rooney and his players’ – and it doesn’t get any easier when they travel to league leaders Sheffield United at Bramall Lane tomorrow (3pm).

With injuries to a handful of first-team regulars and confidence in short supply, Rooney knows the pressure is on him. It is, however, nothing new for the 39-year-old, whose career has been scrutinised since the day he made his Premier League debut at the age of 16 for Everton.

That said, the affable Scouser is clearly up for the fight, saying: “Whatever sport you’re in, you go through patches and we’re going through one which is tough, there is no denying that. What you want to show is some fight and desire to get out of it – and I think we can.

“Of course, I have said this before, injuries don't help, to any team in this league. When you lose players that doesn't help, but that's not an excuse, I still expect us to be picking up results, and expect us to get out of it.

“Right now we’re looking at arguably the best team in the world over the last few years at Man City going through exactly the same. So when you lose some players and confidence is a little bit down it can be tough, but we need to find ways to get out of it.

“Of course, we have got a difficult game Saturday but if we get a positive result what a platform that gives us moving forward into the Christmas period. It’s tough but we’re there, we’re fighting and we’re doing everything we can to try to turn it around.”

Tuesday’s performance was certainly better compared to that of those produced in the two previous fixtures against Norwich City and Bristol City, but Rooney is well aware there is still a huge amount of improvement needed if they are to haul themselves back out of the relegation mire.

“You have to keep working,” he added. “There has to be a level of honesty from everyone when you are going through a period like this, and that has been the case. I actually thought the performance was a lot better on Tuesday than it has been over the last few weeks. It was a lack of concentration or communication on stopping crosses which happened twice and we concede two goals.

“That's a responsibility on individuals, a responsibility on players covering their team-mates, and these are all discussions we are having to try to improve that and make it better, and stop conceding the goals we are conceding because we are killing ourselves.”

Indeed, Rooney admits these are all challenges he and his players must contend with, along with the pressure that is seemingly increasing by the week.

“It’s part of the job, it's as simple as that. There's always noise, whether you are winning, losing, drawing, whatever situation you are in,” said Rooney. “For me, I have honest conversations with players, I have honest conversations with the board and the owners, and we know exactly where we are at.

“We have got a belief we can really come through this. Yes, we have been unfortunate with injuries, of course we have, but it's our job now to make sure we improve players and try to get them to the level which we need to get us out of this. There is pressure you have to deal with but that's part of the fun of being in a job. If that pressure is not there then what's the point?”

Rooney’s selection options for tomorrow will be boosted by the return of midfielder Caleb Roberts and forward Freddie Issaka, both of whom sat out Tuesday’s clash because of illness.