Portsmouth manager Michael Appleton admits the longer the club's financial turmoil continues the harder it will become to maintain high spirits within his dressing room.
Appleton was speaking after watching his players show plenty of heart amid a battling display against promotion-chasing Birmingham, only for highly-rated 17-year-old Nathan Redmond to clinch a 1-0 win for the hosts with a superbly-taken 86th-minute volley.
Pompey's players and staff are still waiting to receive their January wages after the club's bank accounts were frozen having been issued with a winding-up order by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs over an unpaid tax bill.
Appleton revealed there are no new developments in the club's battle for financial survival, but said: "I'm hoping for news over the next couple of days because the longer it goes on, obviously, the more difficult it's going to be to keep morale up and keep the players in a positive frame of mind.
"They're a decent bunch of lads, who've had to take a lot of hits over the last couple of months or so with everything that's going on, especially in the last week not being paid.
"I can't really any ask for any more effort.
"I tried to remind them before the game this evening of why we all started playing football in the first place, it's because we love the game and we enjoy it."
Redmond's matchwinning contribution wrote the latest chapter in the promising teenager's rise, with the substitute making a lively impact on a largely lifeless encounter before showing great technique to clinch matters.
The Birmingham-born Academy graduate is attracting plenty of attention for his exploits this term, and manager Chris Hughton is under no illusions about how good he can become although while also keeping his feet on the floor.
"He's a wonderful player," said the Blues boss.
"He's a real talent, we genuinely don't like to get too carried away about players because we've seen it before when you get a player who doesn't get to the levels you think he is going to.
"At the moment I think we've managed him quite well."
Hughton added: "Certainly he's a talent, we'd like to think he'll be a player for the future."
Hughton was disappointed with Birmingham's first half performance but felt his side upped their game after the break, in complete contrast to counterpart Appleton who was left to rue Pompey's second half showing following a promising start.
Victory, courtesy of what was an astonishing 20th goal of the campaign in the last 10 minutes of games, extended Birmingham's unbeaten run to 12 games.
More importantly, the club's final game in hand following their European exertions moved them up to third in the npower Championship table - just two points adrift of the automatic promotion places.
Hughton said: "As a manager you're always very guarded because you want confidence in the team.
"I'm not one to look at the league table every day, but you know in this division that as well as your form can get you in there, two or three losses on the spin can make you go the other way.
"So you can never afford to get carried away.
"But the players, particularly with the season we've had and the amount of games, thoroughly deserve to be where they are."
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