Iron manager Graham Alexander spoke of his disappointment after seeing United slip to a 1-0 defeat against Shrewsbury Town.
It was a wet afternoon at Glanford Park as persistent rainfall made playing conditions tough but Freddie Ladapo’s cool finish midway through the second period clinched it for Paul Hurst’s side.Predictably frustrated with the outcome, Alexander felt it was slightly harsh given his players’ performance.
He told The Iron PlayerHD: “We’re disappointed. It was a game of few chances but they got the goal on the counter attack and we couldn’t find that equaliser to then go and try to win the game.
“I thought we huffed and puffed, we worked hard but it was just the decision making at times.
“We snatched at things and ultimately it’s about scoring goals and not conceding but we haven’t done that today so credit to Shrewsbury, they played well.
“We're disappointed to lose our unbeaten home record but everyone that has played their part in that run deserves credit.
“We created some good attacking opportunities, the save from Craig Davies’ header by their goalkeeper was unbelievable, and those are the match defining moments.
“He made a fantastic save and they defended their goal exceptionally well but I thought a draw would have been a fair result.
“That’s the way football goes. Sometimes it drops against you and it did today.”
David Mirfin made his first appearance since November in defence whilst Paddy Madden also returned to the side as a second-half substitute, with four changes made in total to the team that faced Southend United seven days previously
Pleased to have both players back and available for selection, Alexander insists he will need to utilise the whole of his squad as we draw towards the business end of the season.
“Last week wasn’t good enough and I picked the players that I thought were best matched to going out and performing today,” the boss continued.
“But we’ve lost again so we’ll have to think again about Tuesday. I can’t say anything negative about the players because they’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point and we’re still in a very good position.
“We’ve still got a very good opportunity and obviously today is a backward step but there are lots of points to play for.
“Charlie (Goode) was unlucky to be left out but I just felt that we needed Mirf’s experience.
“We’ve been conceding quite a few goals as a team lately and I just felt Mirf’s presence would help us with that, which it did in general.
“Unfortunately the one they did put away was the match defining moment but it’s good to have Mirf, and Paddy, back in the squad.
“We need all our players as fit as they can be between now and the end of the season because we’re going to need them all.”
United host Walsall next on Tuesday evening before a clash at Sheffield United that promises to be another hotly contested fixture.
Keen to stress that the Shrews setback is something the players must now learn from and put behind them, Alexander firmly believes it is simply a small blip that he trusts will be rectified.
He added: “All season, whether we’ve won, drawn or lost, we haven’t lingered on the result.
“We’ve always just focused on the next one and that’s what we’ll do now.
“It’s important that we keep our focus, our composure and our long term vision of what we want to do.
“Today was a grind at times and I don’t think the weather helped but we have to overcome things like that.
“You can’t win them all and we’re obviously disappointed but we have other games to go on and compete in now.
“We have to take stock of it, speak to the players, work with them on the training pitch and make sure we do the things that we’ve been doing well all season on Tuesday.”
See much more from Graham Alexander and David Mirfin on The Iron PlayerHD.
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