Midfielder Cole Skuse says the Blues’ improved performance against leaders Coventry City illustrated that the players haven’t thrown in the towel despite Town falling to a 1-0 defeat.
Matty Godden netted the game’s only goal in the 16th minute to send the Sky Blues five points clear at the top of League One with the Blues now down in 10th, their lowest position since Boxing Day 1956.
Town were significantly better than they were during Tuesday’s loss to Fleetwood by the same scoreline even though they were unable able to turn that display into three points.
"I think everyone saw that today,” Skuse said. "Again, the fans came out in their thousands and at the end of the first half and at the end of the game they could see that the lads have not thrown the towel in by any stretch.
"I thought it was a positive performance against a good, well-organised side who are sitting top of the league for a reason.
"They’ve had one shot, one goal. I’ve just said to our media guys, I’m really struggling for words. It’s not as if I’m coming out trying to hide away from questions or anything like that, I’m struggling for words [as it's] a really tough one to take today because I think we played really well and maybe on another day it would have gone another way.”
Town were without three of their senior frontmen, Will Keane having joined James Norwood (recovering from his groin operation) and Kayden Jackson (serving the third game of his three-match ban) in the stands, and Skuse conceded that the Blues struggled up front in their absence.
"Yes, because you’re missing quality players,” the 33-year-old added. "But you’ve still got Freddie Sears, who has played in the Premier League. We’ve got Tyreece Simpson, Dobs [Armando Dobra], Bish [Teddy Bishop] can play in a forward position, Judgey [Alan Judge], an international. You’re not talking about players with no calibre. They’re, top, top players that are playing.
"And it is just that spell at the minute where we’re just not getting that rub. I think the lads up top today were very good. I thought Gwion [Edwards] had a great game, Judgey especially was very good.
"I’m not trying to hide away from anything, I’m not making up excuses, it’s a really tough one to swallow. It’s a tough one.”
Skuse admitted that it’s currently a very tough period for the Blues, who are bottom of a League One form table calculated over the last nine games having lost seven during that period, including the last four.
"After 12 games we were sitting top of the league. Everything looked rosy, we’ve gone on a bad spell and now we’re sitting in [the] position [we are],” he reflected.
"I’m not speaking just on behalf of the players, I speaking on behalf of fans, staff members, the club as a whole, no one wants to be in the position we’re in.
"But that doesn’t mean we’ve thrown the towel in by any stretch, we’ve still got a chunk of games to go and as you can see today it was a very spirited performance from everyone.
"We’ll be trying our utmost to finish the season as well as we can and who knows where it will take us.”
Skuse, who will be back in his home city next Saturday when the Blues face Bristol Rovers, says there was an in-depth post-mortem at Playford Road following the Fleetwood defeat.
"We’ve regrouped over the few days,” he said. "We’ve had meeting after meeting and if I could come in front of you now and pinpoint one thing that was going wrong, then we wouldn’t be in this position, that one issue would have been eradicated weeks, if not months ago.
"It’s not for the want of trying to find what’s going wrong, it’s just isn’t happening for us at the minute. Like I said, we’ve given a positive display, there were some great performances but it just wasn’t to be.”
The Blues’ vice-captain insists the squad will keep fighting for a play-off place during the final eight games with the top six now seven points away with the four sides above them having two matches in hand.
"We’re realists, we’re not in the position we want to be by any stretch, we wanted to be sitting top of the league, rosy like Coventry and our fans singing ‘We’re top of the league, we’re going up’,” Skuse continued ruefully.
"We’re not hiding away from anything, like I said, the lads who came out today didn’t shirk anything, they didn’t shirk the responsibility, they were brave, everyone got on the ball, everyone was trying to make things happen.
"Me, as a senior player, and the other senior players were drumming it into the lads throughout the week, it happens in football, you go through rough patches. You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth but you have to be bold, you have to be brave, you have to keep getting on the ball and trying to make things happen, and we will continue to do that.”
One of the few positives during the recent spell has been the impression made by 18-year-old youngsters Tyreece Simpson and Armando Dobra from the bench, while Brett McGavin, 20, made his league debut from the start against Fleetwood.
"It gives us a breath of fresh air,” Skuse added. "Brilliant for the lads because they’re great kids. They’re like sponges as well, they hang on every word, they’re looking to improve themselves.
"They train really hard, they train really well, so it’s brilliant for them to get their chance.
"Maybe not in the position that we’d want them to get their chance, as I said, we want to be sat top of the league and them coming in with the whole place buzzing, but it is what it is. We’re in the position we are now and they’ve got to take their chance.”