Keates, who has seen his side slip from the upper echelons of the League One table to sit just two points above relegation zone with only thirteen games remaining, feels that the squad just need to start believing in themselves and the weight of expectation will then begin to ease.
Speaking via the Express & Star, Keates said; "Do I believe in this squad? Yes. It’s virtually the same squad that went on an unbelievable run at the start of the season so is it down to between the two ears?
"Yes, it’s got to be. All of a sudden it becomes hard to run around and I’ve said to them you could be 11 stone, top of the league and you feel light as a feather when you run around.
"You could be 11 stone down the bottom and you feel like 15-16 stone. They need to shake that off and believe in themselves again. We are at a point where we have to go out and be bright, be sharp and resilient.
"If something doesn’t go for you, it is what it is – things will go against us, that’s football. But we have to keep our heads up and keep going."