An important part of the weekend ahead is making sure that the disappointment of last Saturday’s FA Cup exit is well and truly put to bed, and manager Paul Simpson spoke today about how the initial part of the process had been set in motion.
“We reviewed the game on Tuesday,” he told us. “We didn’t talk about it on Monday, I just left it.
“I’ve got to be honest with you, it took me a long time to get over the anger of what happened in that game.
“I came in on Monday and the anger was still in me, so I decided not to review it with the players at that point.
“We left that for Tuesday, and it wasn’t even so much the glaringly obvious mistake that happened, but other things we need to do better.
“We talked about it, we’ve worked on it this week in training and the big thing we’ve said is that after 19 league games we’re in a good position.
“What we have to make sure is that over the next 27 league games we don’t let it all peter out. We have to be really strong and positive, and we have to keep building on what we’ve done.
“We have three of the next four games coming up at home. The first of those is Sutton and we’ve got to make sure we keep moving on.”
“I did speak to Tomas, but it really isn’t about that,” he continued. “In that game he’d been great for 88 minutes and I’ve been really pleased with what he’s done this season for us.
“It’s horrible for a keeper because when they make a mistake there really is no hiding. He knows he has to move on.
“Like I said last weekend, you don’t try to protect people when something like that happens. You address it, then you move on. It’s how players react that shows who they really are, and I’m sure he’ll react in his typically positive manner.”
The biggest talking point after the game was the coming together in front of the visiting supporters after the referee had blown the final whistle.
“There’s been letters back and forward with the FA and little bits of video that have been looked at,” he confirmed. “Nothing that’s come out is really conclusive and, as we stand now, I don’t really know where we’re at with it.
“The bits of the video I’ve seen show that it’s our players who are trying to pull people apart and separate it all.
“Unfortunately when the term ‘mass confrontation’ is used it sounds worse than it probably is. By the letter of the law it was a mass confrontation, because if it’s three or more people then that’s what it’s deemed to be.
“That means we’re probably going to have to deal with it. I just think there were mitigating circumstances, with all the emotion that comes with the way the game finished.
“There was the emotion that came with the final whistle meaning that it was all in front of our supporters, and our players actually wanted to go over to thank them.
“That’s certainly why I was walking over there, I wasn’t interested in having a confrontation with anybody.
“I was going to applaud our fans then it all kicked off. It was all really disappointing but I’m sure it’ll be dealt with in the right way.”