Town boss Paul Cook admitted the Blues are “short of where we want to be” to be at this stage following this afternoon’s disappointing 0-0 FA Cup second-round draw with League Two Barrow.
The Blues came closest to breaking the deadlock and Joe Pigott and late on youngster Cameron Humphreys hit the woodwork. Town now face a long trip to Holker Park for the replay in just over a week’s time.
Asked whether he was disappointed with the afternoon’s events, manager Cook said: "A lot of emotions really, the stadium in the first half wasn’t a very nice environment with supporters basically wanting to turn, which I get. The first-half performance was very indicative of that.
"I felt the second half performance a lot more where the supporters wanting to support them.
"As you can see with the pitch, it’s very dry, it’s very bobbly, all of a sudden it’s not conducive to passing football, certainly sidewards and backwards where our supporters are quite right to have a go.
"We showed no intensity, we showed no energy. I felt in the second half, albeit we showed a lot more honesty, but probably lacked a bit of quality.
"As you can see we’re in a little period of time now where it’s tough and for our players you must show your character, and me as a manager. I’ve been in these situations at all my clubs I’ve managed, Chesterfield, Portsmouth, Wigan, I’ve felt pain.
"I feel pain now because the brutal truth is that we’re probably not as good as we want to hope and think we are. The reality is that we are a team which is genuinely trying to work hard to get better. Within that, we have deficiencies, they’re there for all to see.”
Despite the flat first-half display Cook says he didn’t give his players a talking to at the break.
"No, no, no, because football’s educational and it’s trust,” he said. "For our players, the big thing for them, we had to be built off a page, we had Joe Pigott on and Macauley Bonne, we needed to play into our strikers and we needed to get some chances and crosses in the box and you could see the supporters then enjoying the game.
"Our supporters in the second half were like the team, we all played well. In the first half we all never played well, in the second half we all did.
"Our supporters need our help. It’s not just about the supporters turning up and getting behind the team, it’s about the team lifting our supporters and that’s something that we need to do better.”
"What did he make to the partnership? "When things aren’t going well, every other options better than the option we’re doing. I’ve been in all these situations as a manager. I’ve played 4-4-2 in October, November and December and I’ve always played 4-2-3-1. But we’ll go through periods where we need two up front.
"Today’s game suited two lads up front and not a lot of intricate play. It was about getting balls in the box, crosses in the box, putting Barrow under pressure and getting that elusive goal.
"And if we could have won 1-0, like I said to the players, no one remembers these games. No one remembers Crewe last week, it’s just about results and unfortunately for us at the minute we’re not getting the results our supporters crave and want.
"The brutal truth is that we’re probably a little bit behind where we’d all like to be. Some people mightn’t like to hear that, but that’s the truth of it.”
"Asked if he feels his side is any closer to going on a run, he responded: "No, you’ve watched us. I don’t think we are like that. But it changes. When we went to Wycombe did we think we’d win 4-1?
"When we beat Wycombe 4-1, we played Oldham at home, did we think we were going to draw 1-1? I never, I thought we were going to blow Oldham away.
"That’s football and that’s the challenge for managers and that’s why when we’re in jobs and we manage clubs we’ve got a privilege and an honour and that’s our job to sort the problems out.”
Is it a concern that he doesn’t feel a run is on the horizon? "Again, I’m 20 league games in, we’re in the third round of the FA Cup, and what’s a concern? That’s modern-day football now, for you guys, you sharpen your knives very, very quickly in the media.
"For us football managers, that’s the nature of the game we’re in. I’ll let other people answer that.”
The replay will be the seventh successive midweek game for the Blues and something the Blues won’t have wanted, although Cook pointed out that that being out of the competition would be worse.
"When Oldham were lining up to take a penalty, we would have loved to have gone up to Oldham,” he said.
"At the end of the day, football’s about winning games and we won enough of them to be in positions we want to be.
"Our league position isn’t where we want to be and we’re now travelling to Barrow in the FA Cup.
"That’s the reality of where we’re at, but then the squad, the players, everyone, that’s exactly what we’ve recruited, that’s where we’re at. Same as the management.
"We’ll grow together and when we have bad days we suffer together. Today, that’s just part and parcel of our journey.”
Town are without a home win in the FA Cup since January 2009 having drawn at home with plenty of clubs from lower divisions in that time and fans will see today’s result as history repeating itself.
"I think when you look at us as a team, you want to enjoy watching us play. You want to feel confident in the teams we put out,” Cook continued.
"We lost Santi [Bersant Celina] with an injury yesterday, George Edmundson’s out with his achilles. These aren’t made up injuries.
"We have struggled to put an XI out on the pitch that the supporters trust and probably we all trust because it’s chop-change, it’s two steps forward, three back, and that’s where it’s at at the minute.
"We’re probably a few points off where we’d love to be in the league, four or five points would see us on the cusp of getting in the play-offs. Today we travel up to Barrow in a replay.
"It’s us. We’re short of where we want to be. We acknowledge that, there’s no getting away from that.
"Then the biggest thing is what are we going to do to solve it, and that’s my job, the staff’s job and the players’ job.”
Regarding those injuries to Celina and Edmundson, he added: "They both weren’t available. Will they be good for Tuesday? We’ll have to wait and see, I don’t want to say too much.”