We caught up with midfielder Luke Joyce ahead of training on Monday to get his thoughts on the Accrington and Coventry games.
“We were obviously disappointed on Saturday,” he told us. “We took a big following, like we always do, so to get beat 3-0 was really disappointing.
“I’ve watched the game back personally and, other than the goals, I don’t think there was that much between the two teams. As a team we conceded three soft goals and that's soemthing which we’re disappointed about."
“It’s always a worry when you’re conceding goals," he added. "To concede three on Saturday without reply isn’t like us. We’re a team who go out and attack and create chances and we generally score in every game we play.
“All round, Saturday was a bad afternoon. We know how the goals have come about and it isn’t like Accrington have passed the ball through us and carved us open. The third goal was a good run and finish but it could have been prevented before he got the ball, and he could have been stopped whilst he had the ball."
“We know what we’ve done wrong and we need to make sure we’re learning the lessons," he commented. "We’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again at Coventry.
"We spent a long time talking about it in the dressing room after the game and I think that’s important. Everyone was disappointed - some people like to shout and rant and others keep themselves to themselves and have a load of things running through their mind.
"It’s an open room at times and you can say what you need to say so it’s off your chest. We’ll do more of that today [Monday] when we go through the goals we conceded and bits and pieces like that."
“On a personal note Saturday was that bit more disappointing," he admitted. "I left Accrington to come to Carlisle because I thought this club had a better opportunity to progress and I still believe that.
“We’re an honest bunch of lads and everyone wants to do well for themselves and for the club. That's why games like Saturday are a real disappointment. They don’t just spoil our weekend, but also the weekend of the fans.
"Nobody enjoys it and nobody wants to be part of that. Everyone wants to be winning games of football and be playing well, and we’ve got a great opportunity to do that at Coventry."
As one of the players who went over to talk to the Blue Army after the game on Saturday, he said: “I think it’s important to go over and thank the fans, win, lose or draw. I’ve been a fan myself, I used to watch Bolton home and away with my dad, and if players take that time out to applaud you and show you they appreciate the effort you’ve made to get there, then that’s all you can ask for.
"As a player I always try and do it everywhere we go because it’s the least the fans deserve. It’s hard to do it after a 3-0 defeat, and the fans obviously weren’t happy with it, but as professional footballers and people we weren’t happy with the performance or result either. It hurts us but I still wanted to go over and thank them for their backing. Hopefully they’ll be there again at Coventry and we can give them a better performance."
Looking ahead to tonight's game, he said: “We haven’t got a choice but to bounce back against Coventry. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we’ve got to pick ourselves up ahead of a great game at a good stadium against a good team. Whoever the gaffer picks has got to go out there and show a reaction and do a job.
“What we have to remember is that we haven’t suddenly become a bad side because of one bad result. We beat Morecambe then put in a good performance against Mansfield, who are one of the favourites in this division.
"They’re probably joint favourites with Luton and we came away disappointed we hadn’t won the game. You don’t go from that performance to Saturday and become a bad team in the space of a week. We know we’re a good team with good players, but we need to fine tune things and work on a few things."
“I’d like to think we’ll all have picked ourselves up by the end of Monday’s training session," he concluded. "We’ve got to, because we’ve got a big game coming up.
"It’s no good feeling sorry for yourself - you can be disappointed, frustrated and angry, but you’ve got to use that as a motivation to go and put it right.”
Click HERE to watch an interview with Luke Joyce on iFollow United now.
