We spoke to Mark Hughes following our defeat at Grimsby Town.
Speaking to CUTV, Mark said: “I'm disappointed for the guys, because I thought they put a big effort in, did really well, got our noses in front. Obviously, Grimsby are at home, it's difficult and they have a certain way of playing and you have to stand up to that challenge. I thought for the most part that's what we did.
“I'm a bit disappointed in the referee's decision, if I'm honest. He's got two big ones wrong in my view. Obviously, Joe [Hugill] in the first-half, clear penalty.
"The referee books him and we have the same thing with the penalty that he gave, it’s a clear dive.
“He doesn't book him, gives him the penalty. So, those are huge moments in the game that the referees have to get right and unfortunately, the referee today didn't.
“I think he'll look back at those decisions and realise he's made mistakes.”
Mark continued, talking about the endeavour the players showed: “We've only been in the building a couple of days and we were conscious, we didn't want to give them too much information and overload them to a certain extent.
“But in fairness, I could see that they were trying to make things happen, trying to implement what we talked about and yeah, there was encouraging things.
“There was other things in our game that we’re going to have to be better at. But I think in terms of effort and energy that the team showed, I think that was an improvement in terms of the games I've seen since I've been in the door.
“So, yeah, we've got something to build on. We've got 17 games left. We can build on this performance.
“On another day, we would have got something positive in terms of points. We've got a big game again on Tuesday and we'll go again. I think we'll be better again.”
The Blues started the match in a 4-2-3-1 formation, we asked Mark about that decision, he responded: “I could very easily have stuck with the shape that they know and have been trying to implement. But the reality is it doesn't work for them. So, we needed to change.
“That’s the first sign of madness, you keep thinking it's going to be different if you keep doing the same thing. So, yeah, I looked at what we had and I felt it would help them.
“For the most part, like I said, it did. But we've got another opportunity Tuesday. I think we need to see more improvement as well.
“We'll have a little bit of the rub of the green on Tuesday, hopefully. It's a decent pitch. This pitch was difficult for both teams today.
We asked Mark what his main learnings were from today’s game, he said: “They're a genuine bunch. They're trying to do their best.
“Certain elements of the play are lacking and we'll highlight that and compensate for that, I'm sure. But for me, I just wanted a performance of heart and energy and that's what I got. On another day, we would have had a positive result.
“But that wasn't to be, as I've explained, in terms of decisions that went against us. But yeah, looking forward to Tuesday now. Let's see if we can improve on that.”
Sam Lavelle was withdrawn late on, we asked Mark for some clarity on that decision. He explained: “He's been ill. There's been a little bit of a bug going around the club.
“Towards the end, he just emptied his tanks and it didn't feel great. So, we made a quick change.”
Mark then discussed Tuesday’s trip to Newport: “Newport are in good form at the moment. I think that's three wins in a row.
“So, yeah, they'll be looking forward to their own fixture. But we've got to go there with the right attitude and if we do that, then we'll give a good account of ourselves."
On having those extra days with the squad, Mark said: “We've done a lot of work in terms of understanding where they're coming from and the problems they've faced this year. It's up to me and Glyn to give them a platform to be able to change.
“Good performances, which I felt overall this one was. We've just got to find a way to change good performances into good results.”
Finally, on the fans, Mark said: “Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I like to think they saw a difference in our play and certainly we appreciated their support. They were great today.
“No doubt many of them will be travelling down a long way to South Wales, but let's try and give them a positive result on Tuesday.”
