ALAN Tait insists now is not the time to press the panic button, despite his Newcastle Falcons side being nine points adrift at the bottom of the Aviva Premiership.

A 39-8 defeat at league leaders Harlequins on Sunday means the Falcons have won just one of their opening nine games in the competition, with LV= Cup final conquerors Gloucester the next visitors to Kingston Park on Friday.

The head coach said: “It is a long way off worrying time.

“I remember winning at Leeds in late February last season to go 11 points clear, and I was telling the lads not to get carried away because there was plenty of rugby still to be played.

“In the end Leeds pushed us right down to points difference on the final day of the season, and there are a lot of games left yet.

“I think this squad is good enough to get the job done, but we just have to respect the ball more and take our chances when they come.”

That much was evident at the Twickenham Stoop on Sunday as Newcastle’s repeated line-breaks were not rewarded with points on the board.

Tait added: “We have to learn to respect the ball, look after it and build phases rather than trying to score every time we get two phases.

“Don’t get me wrong, we talk about it every week, and it is not as if we plan to play these low percentage offloads.

“They are not even 50-50s and we have to wise up.

“Repeatedly we coughed up the ball in their 22 and they scored at the other end, but we will just have to hammer it home again for them and march on to the next game.”

Alex Tait will almost certainly be absent on Friday after being carried from the field at half-time.