Manager Keith Curle spoke at his weekly press conference this afternoon about keeping an eye on the targets as we head into the final five games of the campaign.
“We’ve been on a good run at a crucial stage of the season so the result on Monday was disappointing," he said. "The performance was ok, but there are bits and pieces we still need to improve on. Ultimately it was the one defeat we think we could afford.
“The players were disappointed after the game because everybody in the changing room knows the importance that games have at this stage of the season for everybody connected to the club. We’re all desperate to do well.
“We haven’t had to go back to basics this week because the fundamentals are there. We had opportunities to win the game, but refereeing decisions which went against us are the type of thing which can change games.
"There's still 15 points to play for and we’ve got to make sure we get our house in order and do our business, which will mean we’ll finish as high as we can."
“We go into every game with the attitude that it’s a must-win game," he admitted. "The mindset hasn’t changed. We know what we’re about and we know what we’re trying to achieve. There are still going to be twists and turns and upsets, we just need to focus on ourselves. That was the message I gave to the players after the game on Monday.
“The target before the Lincoln game was four wins from six, so now it has to be four wins from five. We go into every game wanting to win it. If you can’t win a game your next objective is to not get beat. The players have enjoyed the pressure and the demands we’ve put on them, and we don’t dismantle everything because we’ve lost one game.
“We went to Cheltenham to win the game although people might have said the team selection wasn’t geared to all out attack. We went there with a mindset of nullifying them, then introducing players from the bench to give us the impetus we needed.
"I know the fans appreciate what we're doing at the moment. I think the supporters have been very good all season. We had a slow start, they all have their favourites and are disappointed when they aren’t playing, but they’ve also found new love for some of the other players. The message to them is just to stay on board because you never know what can happen."
On the injured duo Tom Miller and Kelvin Etuhu, he told us: “Tom will be back to field-based training next week. He’s probably a week ahead of Kelvin. Once we get through next week we should be able to have those two back in the squad, or at least back into training with a view to being available for the last two or three games."
And on the contract situation for the players and himself, he said: “It’s obviously difficult to know what other people are thinking, but I would assume that if the players are being informed about their futures by me, then I will have had a conversation with the football club before that, which will mean I will be the manager in place.
"If not, I assume I will get told before the players that I’m not going to be the manager, and then my line manager will be the person to make decisions on the players. It could otherwise be the person who is going to come in, depending on how quickly they were able to appoint somebody.
"It’s all ifs and buts, I’m here, I’m the manager, and I intend to be and want to be the manager of this football club going forward.”
Click HERE to watch an interview with Keith Curle on iFollow United now.
