What turns a side who were scoring so freely in the early months of the season into one on a five-game barren run?

Morpeth Town are searching for the answer to that particular question after 450 minutes of football came and went without a Highwaymen goalscorer.

It’s an unheard of statistic at Craik Park historically, where supporters have been indulged with high-scoring, free-flowing football.

But for Ryan Wombwell, this stubborn streak which Town are seeking to shift will only be erased with confidence.

What brings confidence? Goals. You can see the catch 22 scenario.

The Gateshead loanee isn’t perhaps charged with finding the back of the net, but once he or his teammates get one, Wombwell believes the rest will fall into place.

Town are winless in eight games, losing their last five in a row and currently reside one point outside the relegation places after previously sitting third earlier in the campaign.

The stuttering attacking output from Morpeth is undermining their progress, but Wombwell is hopeful of a swift return to form.

“It’s just confidence,” said Wombwell when reflecting on the recent form which most recently saw the Highwaymen lose 1-0 courtesy of a stoppage-time penalty at Guiseley.

“If we score one goal, they will start flooding in. Especially in the second half (against Guiseley), off the set-pieces, we looked a threat and there were a few times where we went close.

“Once one goes in, I think we’ll score two, three, four and you won’t be able to stop us. But it’s getting that one first – someone just needs to rip the net off and that will set us away.

“We said (following the Guiseley game) we need to keep our heads up and take the positives out of it because there was a load of positives.

“Obviously you’ve got to be disappointed because we’ve been beaten. Look at the performance, there were positives to come out of it. Lately, defensively, maybe we have conceded goals we weren’t happy with but against Guiseley, not just the defenders, the full team, everyone was defending from the front and everyone was putting their bodies in where it hurts.

“I thought it was a really good performance right until the last minute.”