Caretaker manager Andy Dawson provided his reaction to iFollow Iron following the home defeat to Burton Albion.
United lost 3-0, with Kieran Wallace, Lucas Akins and Liam Boyce on target, and Dawson felt they were beaten by the better team.
He said: “We’re really disappointed. We knew what an important game it was, and we really believed we could go out and get something from the match.
“I’ve got to give credit to Burton, who came out and performed, having been on a fantastic run, beating Barnsley last week and almost Sunderland the other day. It just didn’t happen for us. We needed to be better on the ball, and the goals we conceded were disappointing as well.
“To concede from a set-play with the size of our players and aerial threat we have, I wouldn’t expect it. If we came in at 0-0, we could regroup and refocus for the second-half, so it was disappointing all round. It led to us chasing the game.
“Jak (Alnwick) made a really good save from their chance following the first set-play and that should have been our warning sign. We didn’t deal with the second one and for all that Burton were in the first-half and all the dangers they posed, they scored from a set-play which is something we should be really strong at.
“The few opportunities we had to hurt them, that final pass or final decision let us down. I didn’t think we controlled the ball enough in the game. Burton are a possession-based team and you can’t keep giving it away to those kinds of sides because you don’t get it straight back.
“The players will be hurting like we all are because defeat in the manner it was and the situation we’re in is difficult, but you have to go again – there’s no time for negative vibes or sulking. We’ll be positive on Monday morning, show the things we need to improve on and take that on board really quickly.
“We have three weeks left and four games. We have to leave it all out there and have no regrets. It’s completely about us. We have to be a lot braver in and out of possession than we were today.”
See much more from Andy Dawson and Adam Hammill on iFollow Iron. Click here to sign up.