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" I feel a little bit let down to be honest. They were the better side, there was no question about that, but when you've got a 2-0 lead away from home it's important that you defend it. Defensively at times it was poor, defending from the front and not just the back men again. It was so disappointing to lose that game because we've got two goals away from home and we had a couple of great chances as well, it was poor though and I'm not happy.
" I'm not embarrassed because this happens on a regular basis and we're used to it here, it's something we want to eradicate, it's that consistency which we need as people keep on saying. We haven't got it though, one minute we're good and one minute we're poor and there were a lot of poor things out there today. We were the better side after we scored but we could have been 2-0 down inside the first 20 minutes, and I just can't see why that kick-fires players. Perhaps attitudes are different, egos are bigger, and sometimes we find it so frustrating to get that into their heads.
" They've got to read the play though, it's probably that football brain, where the ball is, if it's windy, and there is so much that players can learn but they've got to learn and learn very, very quickly. They're not taking in everything we tell them, we can tell them as long as we like, show them on the training pitch, and we do that. I'm not abandoning them or anything though as soon as they go over the white line – it's not a case of that – but they've got to learn the game and learn it very, very quickly because at the moment we're sliding down the league and I'm worried.
" I always carry the can, but even when I was a player under Brian Horton and John Rudge when things weren't right I used to face the flak from the fans. Players have got to take responsibility as well but I'm going to take it all because that's the way I work, but I need a lot more. There's not a lot I can change, I've got six players out injured and maybe I've got to take a good look at the fact that I need them back as well. I've got to lift myself, I'll come in on Monday morning ready to go again because we play Crewe and then we play Hereford in the Cup. I've got to pick myself up but who motivates the motivator?
" We didn't think the game was won at half-time – not with the gale force winds. I knew they were going to take gambles and throw extra men forward, we had to defend it but again I think they were poor goals. When we are 2-0 up why change things?, because if I change it at 2-0 and they get back into the game then I've tinkered with something that I shouldn't have changed. I thought we were okay, but the number three (Peter Murphy) just made a run from the centre-half position and that caused a problem because it was a little bit of an overload. Then a nice through ball and a good finish from (Derek) Holmes.
" After that though the next two goals were poor, we didn't stop crosses coming in today, and at the end of the day if they keep sticking 30 or 40 crosses in to the box then you are going to concede somewhere. The responsibility isn't just on the full-backs, it can start with the wide men outside them trying to work with them, it's not about individuals, it's about collectively as a team that we're not right. It's nothing to do with fitness levels or anything like that, you can see that the effort was there but maybe we just need that little bit of quality.
" It's quality of play that needs to improve, I thought they were very sharp, very bright and they passed the ball down and moved. We can't seem to do that though, we do it a little bit then stop again, go again and stop again, but we've got to get back on to that training pitch very, very quickly and get out with the ball again. Of course there is pressure on me and I'm not going to hide from the fact that I'm a worried man, we do need quality but quality comes with a price. Where we are at the moment is not good enough and it's not good enough for my standards.
" We've had a good chat in the dressing room afterwards, yes you lose your temper and you say things looking for a response. I want some intelligence back though rather than just it's his fault or somebody else's fault, decent players when I played with them always held their hands up when they made mistakes. We've got to motivate them, and we do that, but at the end of the day we are a team, it's not just the team on the pitch, it's the rest of the squad and the coaching staff.
" We win together and we lose together, but at the moment I'm bitterly disappointed. I just want brave people now to say with a bit of honesty that they've had a poor game, have been beaten too easily, or they haven't tracked their runners or stayed with men on crosses, and good players do that. Quality comes at a cost though and there were two or three players there today that I tried to take in the summer so we know good players. We've got to work with what we've got though, although it would be nice to get to that January window to try and do something. "