We caught up with defender Gary Liddle shortly after full time on Saturday to get his thoughts on the Northampton defeat.
“We didn’t start the game the way we wanted to but as the first half went on we got into the game and created a couple of chances," he said. "Jack [Sowerby] had a couple of chances which he was disappointed not to take. We’re always going to create chances, but without the likes of Nadesan and Yates we lose a bit of directness.
“I’m used to having one of those two in front of me, but with Liam [McCarron] I had a left footer up there and you have to adjust to things like that. I’m sure Tommy and Muzza will be hoping to get Nadesan and Yates back, and they both played for their respective clubs today which means they can only come back to us now."
“We didn’t really get going in the second half and they ended up scoring three goals," he continued. "It was disappointing to lose the game because we wanted to make it seven out of seven and continue the run we’ve been on, but it wasn’t to be.
"We’ll take the positives, and if you’d have asked us seven games ago if we wanted to win six and lose one it’s something we would have certainly taken. We’re still in the play-off positions so it gives us something to build on. We’ll jump back on the horse and look to put it right next week at home to Cheltenham.
“It’s all about how we react now. We were all jumping for joy after winning six games in a row, but we knew the real test would come when we did lose, and it's now down to whether we can get back on it.
"We can’t get too deflated after one defeat, it’s difficult because we aren’t used to losing games at the moment, but we just want to make sure we put it right against Cheltenham.
“I’ve looked at the league table and we’re still right in there. It’s all very tight, results can always go either way in this league, so it’s about finding that consistency again."
On a slightly disjointed second half display, he said: “We’ve lost a couple of players and I felt they were a bit of a miss, because we lacked a bit of impetus going forward at times.
"Nadesan and Yates bring you that directness and pace which it felt like we lacked. Nads can make a bad ball look like a good one with the raw pace he has.
"We’re all pleased for young Liam to come in and get his debut, he did well in parts of what was a tough game to come into. He didn’t shy away from it, he grafted in front of me and he’ll get better for that."
“There’s still plenty of games left and plenty of points to play for," he said. "We’ve been on a high for the past few weeks and it did feel like our energy levels maybe dropped after their second goal went in.
"It’s something we’re not used to so, yeah, when that second goal went in it probably did deflate us a little bit. We didn’t give up, but the game became a bit stretched, which is probably why they scored their second and third goals."
Did the fact that our former-manager was in the home technical area have any bearing on the outcome?
“I think we all knew that Keith [Curle] will have wanted to get one over on us, especially when you read his pre-game press," he said. "That’s fair enough, he was great for this football club and he demands a lot of respect from all parts of it.
"They’ve had a lot of draws since he’s been here so he’ll be pleased to get his team up and running."
“I don’t think us not having a manager is affecting us at the moment," he told us. "Things are the same as they were when John [Sheridan] was here. It might have been different if Tommy and Muzza had gone with John, because then it would have been a case of us looking for someone to look up to.
"Tommy and Muzza were obviously around everything on a day-to-day basis anyway, so nothing will change for us. We don’t know anything about the situation with the manager, we’ll just continue to give our all and wait and see what happens.
“In an ideal situation everybody would want it sorted as soon as possible, and the sooner that is the better for everybody. I think it’s important that no knee-jerk reactions are made after today, there’s a lot of hard work gone in over the last month or two so any manager who comes in doesn’t want to upset the apple-cart too much.
"We’ve lost but we’ve also won the six games previous, so it isn’t like whole-sale changes need made. We’ve had a tough run of games, we’ve won them all, but it takes a lot of hard work, especially over that Christmas period.
"It’s tough to play so many games in such a short space of time, so it will be important to do light training and have some rest this week to make sure we recharge our batteries. Maybe we’ll get one or two players in who can help us next weekend, but if not we’ll go as we are and we’ll be looking to put things right.
“We’re in a good position which makes us an attractive team to come for any new player at the moment. Tommy and Muzza will be working round the clock to try and do that in areas they feel need strengthening."
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