Manager on the Swindon defeat
United manager Greg Abbott gave us his reaction to the weekend defeat at Swindon.
He said: “We came up short in this one and it has been really disappointing for us, for the fans and for everybody connected to the club.
“They are a side full of confidence and they showed that. We didn’t cause them anywhere near enough problems and we haven’t made them work hard enough at all. The big disappointment is that we have been playing better recently and we wanted that to continue. This sets us back again, but we have bounced back before from situations like this and we are determined to do that again.
“I’ve had a lot to say in the dressing room but that’s where it has to stay. The lads haven’t been able to disagree with anything they heard because we just haven’t been good enough in this one. We’ve gifted them their goals, they haven’t had to work too hard at all, and you can’t do that with good sides.
“We aren’t happy with the way we conceded any of the goals. It’s obviously a big area of concern because we can’t keep doing this. Having said that, we think we’ve been improving and we have to treat this one like a one-off and get back to playing tighter and for each other.
“The lads know that they have to pick themselves up quickly now. We’ll be back in next week and we’ll make sure we get everything right in terms of preparation for the Coventry game. Days like this are never going to be nice but the best thing we can do is make sure we get a positive reaction.
“We have to be better in possession because we didn’t keep it at all. We have players who like to pass it and we didn’t look comfortable at any stage of this one. We’re much better than that but it’s up to us to get out there and prove it.
“The injury to Mike [Edwards] came at a bad time but we had Peter Murphy ready to go. He felt something with his hamstring but it’s too early to say what exactly has happened, so we’ll keep a close eye on that over the weekend. Hopefully it will be nothing too serious because we want as many fit bodies available for us as possible. With Chris Chantler we felt we needed to give his ankle a bit of a rest. Matt Robson can do that job and this period of time will do Chants the world of good. I’m sure he’ll come back raring to go.
“We feel a huge amount of disappointment for the fans, that goes without saying. They’ve come here and supported us again and we haven’t performed for them. They’ll go away feeling angry and disappointed and rightly so. They expect better and we have to deliver.
“Like I say, there are no excuses for this one. We haven’t performed and we have been beaten by a good side. We have to learn from it and make sure we put it behind us by producing much better next weekend.”
