An uncharacteristic first half performance left United with only pride to play for after the break on Tuesday night as Mansfield took a healthy four-goal advantage down the tunnel and into their dressing room.
Speaking after full-time manager Paul Simpson said: “It hurts when something like this happens, but you have to just take it and you have to try and learn from it.
“I’m not surprised at how well Mansfield played, because I think they’re a good side, but what surprised me was how badly we played.
“This is the same group of people who, let’s be real about it, from the previous 30 games we’ve earned the right to be third in the table. That’s because we’ve gone about things properly, but for the first 45 minutes of this game we certainly can’t say that.
“I can’t think of anything we did right. There were unforced errors from everybody when we were in possession and the amount of times we put the ball out of play was incredible.
“The big disappointment was that we didn’t work hard enough to stop crosses, we didn’t compete enough for first and second balls, and I just can’t flower this up in any way.
“We were not at the races for the first 45 minutes, and I don’t care who you’re playing against, you certainly can’t give the goals away like we did. We have to take it on the chin, learn from it, address it, and we have to get ourselves ready for the weekend.”
Asked if it was 45 minutes of pain that was self-inflicted, he told us: “I don’t want to be disrespectful to Mansfield because they put some really good crosses into the box and we didn’t deal with them.
“We didn’t stick to our jobs at a set play for the second goal. Players had men to mark, and we didn’t stick to our jobs, they switched over, and I don’t know the reason for it. This isn’t the time for an inquest, when everything is raw, but we will go through it.
“The penalty is a penalty, Morgan got himself frustrated and I’m not sure he’d have made that challenge if it was 0-0, he’d have just let the lad head it up into the air.
“Collectively we lost our way, and again that’s from a group of players who have been absolutely fantastic for this football club and for us all in the first 30 games. It’s a huge disappointment that we have to take on the chin.”
“Like I say, at the set pieces I don't understand what's happened because players got given jobs to do and men to mark,” he continued. “Kilgour is very, very good from set plays and we specifically gave a player a job to do, and he's not the player who is challenging for it when the ball goes in.
“So, we need to address that. We talk about set plays against, in knowing your job, which is the first thing, know what we expect of you. But then the biggest thing is go and do your job. Sadly we didn’t do that on this occasion.
“Over the season we have been very, very good at defending set plays. But then on the flip side, our attacking set plays, we had the delivery in and we never got anybody on the end of it. It’s one where we can talk about everything going wrong on the night.”
After any defeat like that will come the obvious questions of why it went the way it went.
“Of course you ask that,” he agreed. “You’re asking questions about what’s caused it and where this has come from. I don’t know and I can’t find a reason right now, but I don’t think we’ve seen anything like that this season.
“It’s probably the reason why they were in the position they were in last season, when I got the phone call to come in, but we certainly went under in that first half. Like I say, we haven’t seen anything like that so far this season.
“We have to get dusted down from it, take whatever criticism that comes our way, but what I would say is that I thought there were some sly comments our way, but in the second half I thought the supporters were absolutely fantastic with the team. I can only thank the fans for that.
“I didn’t like some of the things I was hearing shouted from the Paddock in the first half, but I get it, we just have to accept that when we’re being beaten 4-0. In the second half the fans were outstanding for the way they stuck with us, and I can only thank them for that because it was a difficult night for them as well.”
With such a big mountain to climb, he confirmed that the changes made during the break were with doing something to change things in mind.
“We made the changes and, to be honest, I could have changed anybody,” he said. “I felt we needed to do something, and it had to be a change of personnel. I wanted to try to do something different.
“It was about going out and playing for pride at that point. I don’t believe in this whole win the second half thing, that’s a load of rubbish, but we had to make sure we played with more pride after the break.
“To be fair, we did work harder to stop crosses, and we tried to eliminate individual errors, and I wanted us to basically show what we’ve been showing all season so far. None of it was there in the first half, and we have to take it on the chin.
“We managed to get Jack Robinson on for his debut as well. It gave us a chance to have a look at him. I said to him, it's unfortunate. It's not the circumstances you would want to go on.
“But I felt it was a case of just getting him out there. I think he showed that he had a desire to get crosses in. He looks like a good physical presence.
“I can't think of any positives that we can take apart from the fact that we didn't concede in the second half. But sadly, there's a lot of disappointment. I trust them to be able to go again. I trust them to be able to lift each other and hopefully that will come this weekend.”
And on how the dressing room was come full time, he said: “Massively disappointed. They accepted at the end of the game that we went away from doing what we’ve done. And that's really all I can say.
“There was no ranting and raving. I didn't feel as though the end of the game in particular was a moment for ranting and raving. It was a time to just be calm. We can't lose anybody because they’ve all done really, really well.
“And I think the days have gone of the ranting and raving and throwing things around. It doesn't get the right reaction. What we have to do is just look after each other and make sure we come back stronger for it.”
