Manager Paul Cox wants our players to ‘get their teeth into everything’ in our remaining 25 matches of the Sky Bet League Two campaign.
Our side looked set to end their winless streak this afternoon, but two Accrington Stanley goals deep into injury-time consigned us to a gut-wrenching 3-2 defeat.
“I’m absolutely gutted,” said Cox. “Words can’t describe my emotions at the minute.
“We’ve had a long talk in the dressing room. We looked anxious and I don’t know why it is. We need to do the basics – putting our head and foot through the ball, winning ugly, as it gets you three points.”
Our side could have made sure of three points in the final minute of normal time, when Daryll Westlake was denied by Marcus Bettinelli in a one-on-one.
Cox added: “I’m sick of talking about fine lines.
“We’ve lost a game again, which any neutral [at One Call Stadium] today, would have said we deserved to win, but we cannot keep talking about those scenarios.
“I’ve told the boys to bite, scratch, work harder, and all of those things.
“We had a good start to the season, but the reality is we need to have an improvement in our mindset, an improvement in our concentration levels and improve our decision making.
“That is what is costing us, because we should have walked away from that game [with all three points] and under no trouble whatsoever, but we’ve ended up losing it.
“[Accrington] haven’t carved us open with great football, it’s basic defending what has cost us. If we can’t do that [defend] then we haven’t got a base to start from.”
Our manager will now be looking for an upturn in results during a busy festive period, which sees us play four matches in 10 days – starting with a Boxing Day trip to Rochdale.
“[My resolve] is as strong as ever,” said Cox. “There are 25 matches to go now, and we need to bite, scratch, and get our teeth into everything what is infront of us.”
