CRADLEY Town boss Russell Dodd believes their dramatic loss of form may have been caused by the curse of a team award.

The manager admits he simply can’t fathom why his side have lost their last three games and tumbled out of West Midlands Premier title contention.

And recently discovering the Hammers were awarded a league gong as September’s team of the month now has him pondering whether that has been a jinx.

He said: “We only found out this week we had won the award but that’s a bad luck charm isn’t it?

“We had a poor October and so far it’s been a dreadful November so it could be the award.

“In all seriousness I’m tearing my hair out trying to trying to figure out what has gone wrong.

“Aside from the goalkeeper it’s the same side we had during our good run and I don’t believe you become a bad team overnight.

“It’s more a case of we are picking the wrong pass here or making the wrong decision there - it’s something we will just have to keep working on.”

The recent run reached something of a nadir on Saturday as ten man Cradley were hammered 5-1 at AFC Wulfrunians.

Dodd believes his side never gave themselves a chance after conceding two early goals and having Stuart Hamilton sent off.

He said: “We are really making things hard for ourselves.

“It’s not that teams are playing us off the park, it’s just silly mistakes.

“On Saturday the game was decided in a crazy ten minute first half spell and after that we actually did alright with ten men and contained them well.

“With about 20 minutes to go I decided to go for it and that’s when they were able to pick us off at the back.

“But at that stage it was a case of we may as well lose by five than by two.”

Dodd has something of a keeper crisis with regular stopper Blake Green still sidelined and has made an approach for Lye’s Tom Harper.

He has also put in seven days for Tividale’s Richard Taylor, though Mark Habbershaw has left for Wulfrunians.