We spoke to manager Paul Simpson following tonight’s game against Stoke City in the Carabao Cup.
Speaking about the overall level of performance, he said: “There were a lot of good things tonight. I thought we played from our shape well against a really good side.
“Stoke City are a strong Championship football club, a club that's only just recently come out of the Premier League. They've got players in that squad who are more than capable of playing at the Premier League level. So, it was always going to be a tough ask for us, but I thought the way the players went about it was really good.
“I thought they created good opportunities. They pressed really well. Overall, there was a lot of things to be pleased about, but as you say, I'm never happy to lose a game.
“We talked about having to be patient when they had the ball and not having a fear of them having possession, and a lot of it was in front of us. I thought when they caused the problems, it was the through the sheer pace and quality of the slide balls that they were putting through, or even the little clips over the top.
“The difference as you go through the leagues is the physicality, which we found last season, but also that technical quality to be able to find those passes.
“The quality for the second goal, the first pass from the centre-half into the wide player who'd come in off the line, and then the pass through to the striker as well. That said, I thought we created some good chances as well.
“We had a chance with Charlie Wyke in the first half that he just put wide of the post. Harrison Neal had a couple of good strikes that the keeper had to save. We had some real good quality, particularly from a free-kick from Archie Davies, that we should have probably got on the end of it, but we didn't.
“Then there was a corner from Ben Williams where Luke Armstrong has an overhead kick and it bounces off the post. There's been some opportunities for us, but we just didn't have that quality to be able to go and finish it.
“It's different when you're at that higher level because in League Two, you tend to have strikers who'll finish maybe one in five, something like that. At that level they score one in two the way that they stick them away.
“I think the second goal has had a bit of luck because I'll give Harry Lewis some credit. I thought he had some real positive start positions and made it difficult for the strikers. For that second goal, he's come, he's tried to close it down and on another day, it spins wide of the post. Unfortunately for us, it spins in and we lose the game 2-0, but I thought Harry was more positive today. I was pleased because he came and punched one or two and we've got to just keep trying to improve and keep trying to build it.”
The lads stuck with the game, which the gaffer agreed was pleasing to see after Saturday’s performance : “Yeah, I think we did. I'll be honest, on Saturday, I thought we stuck at it, but we made some real silly mistakes.
“I thought we defended a little bit stronger tonight. We were a little bit more resolute about the way we went about it. We worked extremely hard again and the challenge for us now is to get freshened up, ready for a brilliant game at the weekend. That's the one that matters now.
“Saturday’s game was part of my thinking in the team that I selected tonight because I didn't want to push Ben Williams too hard because he's not done much training, certainly hasn't played any games recently. Tonight, I was conscious that Archie Davis hasn't played Saturday, Tuesday games for many years. I was reluctant to push him too hard. Daniel Adu-Adjei hasn’t played a lot of match minutes and a lot of pre-season high intensity work, so we had to protect him as well.
“Jack Ellis came in at left back and did well, I thought he was excellent and he really stuck to his task. He was really positive in the way he pressed, and even when he came over to right back, he kept persevering as well.
“He got himself forward into good areas. There were a lot of good things. There was some good individual stuff again tonight. Sadly, we'll go away without winning again.”
