Defender John McCombe has urged our team to respond against Rochdale on Boxing Day following this afternoon’s 3-2 defeat to Accrington Stanley.
Two goals deep into injury-time saw Stanley come from behind to beat us in dramatic fashion.
Although McCombe was pleased to score twice, he was thoroughly disappointed with how our side lost the game in injury-time.
“I’m absolutely gutted to be honest,” said 28-year-old. “I’m glad to be back in the side, and to get the two goals was brilliant, but as a defender to not see out the game was really disappointing.
“I could see us getting anxious towards the end and we were sitting back, whilst they put a lot of balls forward.
“That’s what happens when you’re on a bad run. I’ve been in teams that have been up towards the top of the league and involved in games similar to today’s but come away with all three points.”
He continued: “I thought we defended quite well, so to let three goals in is disappointing. It is something we need to sort out at the minute.
“We’ve got enough quality in there and the lads are hurting at the minute, but at least we don’t have to wait until next Saturday with our game on a Thursday. Hopefully we can react fast and get some wins on the board.
“You shouldn’t be winning a game 2-1 in the 91st minute and then come away losing 3-2. It’s something that shouldn’t happen in football and we will be addressing this as soon as possible.”
With a busy Christmas period ahead, McCombe believes our next two matches against Rochdale and Cheltenham Town represent an ideal opportunity to end our poor form.
“We need to go back to the training ground and work hard. It was similar against Oldham Athletic the other night – they had four shots and scored four goals,” added McCombe.
“Rochdale are a good team in this league and Cheltenham have been in the play-offs during the last few years.
“It’s going to be two tough games, but they’ll be no better games to go into. If we can beat Rochdale, it’ll show we can beat anyone in this league.”
