Head Coach Joey Barton spoke to the press after his side narrowly lost 1-0 to Blackpool at Highbury Stadium on Saturday.
It was a cagey affair from both sides, but it was Gary Madine’s header from a free-kick that was the difference between the two as Blackpool rode out 1-0 winners in the Fylde Coast derby.
Here’s what he had to say:
On the match…
“It feels like ground-hog day a little bit, a loss by one goal from a set-play, Connolly has slipped and Madine gets free and scores a header, it’s disappointing as we weren’t at the races for as good as we can be.
“We’ve come away from the game without having a shot on target, albeit a few scary moments in the box but at this moment in time we’re disappointed as we’ve gone from a free-scoring team where we can look at scoring double figures but in the last two games we have been stop-start and it’s something we have to work on.”
On the two sides’ rivalry…
“It’s disappointing but it will be a long hard slog this season, I’m gutted for our fans because it would have been nice to win that local derby and to get ourselves back in the playoff picture, but it is what it is.
“We’re really gutted but there is no point dwelling on it for too long because we have another derby game against them on Tuesday night. For the local pride, both sides were desperate to win the league fixture, for Blackpool to come to a team play-off finishing team last year and winning, especially how good we were at home it will boost their confidence.”
On the squad’s standards…
“We set our standards every week, every single time you step foot on the park you can’t live off past performances, it doesn’t matter what you have done in the past and you have to live in the present and you can’t take anything for granted.
“We have work to do to better than last season’s play-off finishes. We will dust ourselves down and get back on the training ground and aim to turn the last two results around.”