Insult team, awful and desperate? (4-6)
I believe the answer is:
last-minute
'desperate?' is the definition.
(last-minute efforts might be desperate)
'insult team awful' is the wordplay.
'awful' indicates an anagram.
'insult'+'team'='insultteam'
'insultteam' is an anagram of 'LAST-MINUTE'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for last-minute that I've seen before include "Eleventh hour" , "Done at the latest possible moment" , "Eleventh-hour" , "very late" , "Done at the final moment" .)