There was a heck of a lot of frustration around at full time last Saturday as United left Vale Park with nothing to show for their efforts.
On the reaction this week, he said: “I think everybody has picked themselves up from it.
“I said what I needed to say after the game to the players, I said what I wanted to say on Saturday for anybody who cares to listen, and we had a discussion on Monday with the players.
“Normally my meetings last 10 or 15 minutes, but this one went on for about 80 minutes. I asked them to speak, I said my piece, other staff had their opinion, and they’re all of the view that we’re not far away.
“But being not far away can seem a long way away as well. We’ve got to reduce that gap, we’ve got to minimise our mistakes, maybe work even harder, and when I talk about working even harder I mean in terms of training, how they live their lives, levels of professionalism, it’s all of those things.
“We have to be as good as we can be. I’ve said it before, we’re trying to compete at the next level and we’re not quite there yet. That’s the brutal truth of it and we’ve got to do everything we can to get there.”
And a first win can of course, will completely change the landscape.
“It does - it gives us the three points for a start,” he told us. “It gets the not winning weight off our backs and we’ve just got to keep going to get it.
“It’s not going to be easy, no game is going to be easy. Shrewsbury will come here this weekend, they’ve had a decent start to the season with nine points taken so far, and they’re a seasoned League One side.
“There are a few players who used to be here who will be coming back and I hope it’s horrible for them. We’ve got to make sure that we do make it horrible for them and as pleasant as it can be for us.”