United manager Mark Robins underlined the word “disappointed” following his side’s 3-1 defeat at Rochdale.
The Iron went behind in the first half, but Dutchman Kevin van Veen had levelled the scores briefly before the Dale notched twice more to seal the victory.“I’m disappointed obviously with the manner of the defeat,” he told The Iron Player.
“I’m disappointed that we are not playing as well as we know we can do, but Rochdale are a good side. We know they’re a good side, but we know that we’re a good side and we haven’t given that performance level that we have become used to.
“We looked a bit nervy to start with, but we did well in the opening stages of the game until we conceded the goal. After conceding the goal, we went on the back foot a little bit. It took us a little bit of time to adjust.”
The Dutch striker was picked out with precision by Conor Townsend, playing on the left wing, with his finish emulating one of the main reasons he was brought over from FC Oss.
“We did get back into the game with a good goal from Kevin (van Veen),” he continued.
“He took his goal really well. It was a decent ball, a decent move and it was slotted away really well.
“You get to 1-1 and you think, right let’s step it up now and there was a little bit of sloppiness on the touchline.
“We speak to young players and how they need to learn their lessons. Hakeeb’s first touch let it get away from him, they broke at us and we were deep; culminating in Isaiah putting a really good block in. The ball hit the inside of the post and they’ve followed it up and were first to the rebound, which from our point of view was atrocious.
“We’ve got to demand more from each other and do better when we are defending those chances and trying to keep the ball out of the back of our net. We have not done that well enough.
“From then on there were limited opportunities and we didn’t create enough. We looked a little bit threatening and they were the team to get the next goal when we were pressing to try and get another equaliser.”
He added: “Once we got the equaliser, we should have tried to consolidate. When you’re not playing brilliantly and not playing well enough to win the game, you should be in a position to manage the game which means that you can get something from it.”
See much more from Mark Robins, Kevin van Veen and Kyle Wootton on The Iron Player.