We caught up with striker Adam Campbell shortly after full time on Tuesday night to get his thoughts on what had been another frustrating outcome.
“We’re standing here wondering how we’ve lost that game, but that’s the same question we’ve been asking ourselves for the last few home games,” he admitted. “I think overall the boys are playing well, and we’re finding ourselves in good positions without getting the rub of the green when it comes to the final pass or the final touch.
“It is frustrating and everyone is feeling it in there, and everyone from the manager down feels like we’re letting teams off the hook. We’re creating chances, but we need to be taking them and we need to make sure we punish the other team."
“We’ve had a lot of possession in the home games, we’ve been on top of teams, but we haven’t had that little bit of luck when we’ve needed it," he reiterated. "That’s what happens in football. Their goal came from a throw in, and the next thing you know they’re sitting in and protecting their lead, which is what you’d expect.
"It became hard to break them down, so when you don’t take your chances when they do come along you’re going to get results like that. When things are going well, the half chances you get always seem to go in. When things aren't going your way, not only do they not go in, but the big chances go begging as well.
"That's just the way football goes, so all we can do is keep putting the work in on the training ground and keep going out onto the pitch believing we’re going to get the result. As soon as one goal comes I’m sure a few will follow."
“I don’t think the fact that we aren’t scoring is affecting us," he told us. "We’ve got a strong group in there, we’re mentally tough and we all know where we want to be. We’re all fighting to get up to the top end of the league, so although the results aren’t going our way we aren’t letting it affect our mentality. We’re already raring to go to try and put it right at Oldham on Saturday.
“We aren’t going into home games expecting not to score or not to win, and we don’t go into away games feeling more confident. At the moment we’re being more ruthless away from home and I think we’ve just lacked that little bit of luck in the home games.
“The manager has said after the last couple of defeats that we always seem to be able to bounce back with a positive result, but that hasn’t been the case this time. We need to make sure we put it right against Oldham on Saturday."
On his own recent chances to register on the scoresheet, he said: “I think the last few games have summed up my career in terms of scoring goals. If I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all!
"I’ll keep going and I’m sure that luck will change. I had the header on Saturday which came back off the post, then a shot which their defender has made an unbelievable block against Grimsby.
"I suppose that means he’s done his job, he’s the centre half and he’s managed to get himself in the right position to get a good block on it, but it is frustrating for me. The good thing is I keep finding myself in those positions, so hopefully my luck will change."
Having predominatly come on from the bench recently, he commented: “You can say that I’ve affected things when I've been given the nod, but in the last couple of games I’ve come on and we’ve come off the pitch with no points, and that's the most important thing.
"I can come on and work hard, but if I’m not getting assists or scoring goals I’m not doing my job as well as I can. I don’t think I’ve ever met a footballer who is happy to sit on the bench. I’m desperate to get myself in the team, score more goals and get more assists.
"When I’m coming off the bench I’m trying to do my best, and I’m trying to keep myself fit in training. There are injuries here and there so if I can fill in and help the team out that’s what I’ll be trying to do."
Looking ahead to another busy month, he said: “Although the two results have been frustrating, they’ve been and gone now. We can stand here and talk as much as we want, but the results aren’t going to change. All we can do is work hard and try and put things right on Saturday.
"Every game in this league is tough, and every team has got their strengths. Grimsby are down the bottom of the league after losing six games on the bounce but they’ve come here and beat us. Oldham came down from League One last year so they’ll be wanting to get back up, the same as we are, so we’ll go there expecting a tough game.
“The manager has told us agaun that we’re playing well without getting the luck we need. The only way that’s going to change is by us making sure we keep doing the right things and be more ruthless when we do get chances.
“We had a good result at Bury in our last away game so we’ll be hoping for the same at Oldham on Saturday. We’ll take another good following down there and there’s no reason we can’t go and get another positive result.”
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