We spoke to Mike Williamson, following defeat to Cheltenham.
Firstly, we asked about Charlie Wyke, who sustained a nasty injury and has been taken to hospital. Mike said: “He's going to hospital and he needs to get a scan. Obviously, it's going to be nasty but to what extent, we're not fully sure.
“As for how it affected the lads only, they can answer that. But I thought the second half, we showed a character of wanting to fight for him. I think wanting to fight for the situation and for each other. Obviously, the nature of the game was tough from start to finish.
“And I thought we found it very, very hard. First half we didn't win enough of our individual battles.
“To be honest, I just feel sick. I feel sick for Chaz, I feel sick for the boys. In a moment where I think everyone's hurting and it's hard, because I see the pain in the boys' face and they go out there, they give everything.
“And as much as we weren't good enough in the first half, we're missing chances in the second half. And they've done everything they possibly can to bundle the ball in the back of the net. And it's just not happening.”
The Blues conceded early on, and simply couldn’t break down their opponents. We put it to Mike, that this was a familiar feeling, he spoke on the game: "We knew they were going to step on in the first-half. We thought that they would press us high.
“So we wanted to go over the press. I thought we picked up second balls quite early in the first 10, 15 minutes. Didn't come to anything, as is the place we're in.
“But the courage that young players like Dom showed, and I thought Terrell, and Sam at the back playing with as much courage as they possibly can. And obviously Ethan and Taylor giving everything. And we're just coming up short in terms of quality and where we are emotionally.
"It's hard to stomach. But the boys are giving everything."
We asked Mike what he said to the lads at half-time after a disappointing first half, he responded: “We went over a few things tactically. But you see the emotion, the energy, the intensity second half.
“Charlie [Wyke] is, he's our captain and he's a leader. So to see that happen to him was very, very hard to see. And the boys' reaction to it, I thought was testament to the characters that are out there. But we just can't score at the minute and we're getting punished by mistakes."
We asked about the error for the goal too, and about players holding their hands up for mistakes like that. Mike said: "There's no holding hands up. We're in it together.
“There's more and more mistakes happening. And for me, the place we're in, it stops us being on the front foot. And that's what I will assess and be disappointed about.
“Because we can only control what we can control. Obviously, lads missing chances, lack of quality, the end product in the final third. I think that's never a lack of willing.
“And it's a lack of quality and a lack of, at this moment, we're struggling to execute. In the first half, I thought a little bit of naivety kind of creeped in. But there's certainly no individual mistakes and any blame that's going to be attributed.
“Because from top to bottom, I take full responsibility of everything and keep working. And I've got so much love and care for those boys because I can see the pain they're in. And I've been there as a player.
“It's not easy. And it's very easy to criticise. But unless you've been there and you've found a way of getting out, you don't know what they're going through.”
Mike also spoke on the frustration with some of the decisions that went against the Blues: “Yeah, I thought in decisions all over the pitch, I thought they were committing fouls and then we were getting punished reacting to it.
“But yeah, by the letter of the law, you look at the force of the challenges, but there's no malice in it. And it's just a real kind of difficult period. And that is the place we're at because we make changes when we start the second half.
“And then something that you just feel in a game as innocuous turns out to be very, very serious. I think that just like the whole summary of today is, the feeling that we've got in the pit of our stomach and the feeling for Charlie [Wyke], the feeling for what he's going through and his family going through. And then how much the lads put it in off the back of that and still come up short."
Cheltenham slowed the game down, they made it ugly, and ground it out. Mike agreed: “Yeah, they did. And they did it well. They broke rhythm, broke momentum. And we will watch it back.
“This is a moment for them to just come together and go home to be with their family and know that, like Ian said after the game, in periods like this, it's hard to live by your values of who you are and what you want to embody.
“But testament to the lads, because the way they conduct themselves is really important and that will make a big difference when this place turns."
We asked Mike how he sees this turning around, he said:
“I see it turning by coming in Monday and getting around them and supporting the lads and watching it back, clearing the filters, making sure that we got a clear focus and how we're going to turn it around. I've got no doubt that what we've got in the dressing room can turn around.”
