Assistant manager Gav Skelton spoke on Tuesday night about the need for the group to respond to the disappointment of the result and performance seen at Sutton last weekend, with him agreeing with the manager that there was no intention of hiding away from what had happened.
“You hurt, and there’s no hiding from that,” he said. “We were poor and it was a disappointing result and performance. We’ve just been talking in the dressing room and we wish we were playing our next league game now.
“So, yes, it does hurt everyone, but we trained yesterday [Monday] and those who weren’t involved trained this morning [Tuesday], and we’re all chomping at the bit for Saturday.
“We’re all professional people representing a proud club so Saturday does hurt. It wasn’t good enough and we’re more angry and disappointed than anybody.
“It’s gone now, we’ve picked the bones out of it, and it’s alright talking about it and saying sorry and things like that, but the only real way to say sorry is by responding in the next few games. Hopefully we can do that.”
“Winning against Everton helps to breed confidence, not just within the club but also with supporters,” he added. “I know people look at this trophy as us up against an under-21 team, but it’s always nice to win.
“You’re on a kind of a hiding to nothing because people probably won’t mention that we’ve won, even though we’re delighted and proud that we’ve won, and I’m sure people wouldn’t be pleased if we’d lost.
“We’ll enjoy the victory and we’ll assess it, but from the moment the game finished the thoughts were immediately on Saturday. That’s the next most important thing so we’ll make sure we prepare properly for it.
“As we said a number of times, the lads who played on Tuesday have got to put their hands up to play, and some did.
“I’m sure everyone that was there or listened to it will know some put their hands up more than others, which was pleasing.
“Now we head into the weekend game looking to do things properly again, and that’ll be our aim from the first minute.”
