Town boss Kieran McKenna says it’s not been too difficult for the squad to move on from the disappointment of last week’s 2-1 defeat at Plymouth Argyle, the Blues’ first League One loss of the season.

The Pilgrims came from behind to beat Town having been a goal down to old boy Freddie Ladapo’s first league goal for the Blues at half-time and usurp the Blues at the top of the table.

“It’s not been too difficult, to be honest,” McKenna said when asked whether it had been easy for his players to move on from the defeat.

“Of course, it was a disappointing end result on Sunday, but we try and stay consistent and calm to our beliefs.

“We know going into the season that you’re going to lose a good number of games. The team who goes on to win the league will lose a good number of games, so you know going into the season that you’re going to lose games.

“It’s important in those moments to be consistent in your process and reflect on how the game went and very quickly move on to the next one.

“That’s no different whether we win, lose or draw and that’s the process we follow this week.

“I have to say the energy and the spirit in the players has been very good, and they are all looking forward with full focus to Saturday.”

Despite the loss, there were pluses which McKenna was able to take from the display.

“I think with most of our games this year our performances have been largely very positive,” he reflected.

“We’ve played ten games and we’ve lost one. I think in every game apart from the Burton game we’ve had better chances than the opposition and if you do that in nine out of ten games where you create more than the opponent, then you’re giving yourself a really good chance to win. So lots of positives to take.

“Of course, you always want more. You want more in your performances, you want more points on the table, but we know that we’ve done a lot of things well and we also know that there are things that we can and need to improve, and that’s where our focus remains.”

Among those positives was Ladapo’s first league goal for the club, the summer signing from Rotherham’s previous two strikes having come in the Papa Johns Trophy.

“It was nice for him,” McKenna added. “I’ve said before, performances and what you give to the team is the most important thing.

“Of course, goals for a forward player are part of that but it’s not the only thing and sometimes you’re in a position and it doesn’t get squared to you, sometimes you hit a shot well and the goalkeeper saves it and sometimes you scuff it and it hits your other leg and lobs over the goalkeeper.

“It doesn’t mean you had a bad game or you’re not a good player the week before and then you had a good game the following week, it’s just football.

“For all our forward players, it’s about contributing to the team on and off the ball and, of course, trying to get in goalscoring positions to create and score goals. He’s no different from anyone else and it was nice for him to get his first league goal.”

The frustrations in the last two matches, the 2-2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday prior to the loss at Argyle, have been the Blues not sealing the three points when in winning positions and then being unable to change the momentum of the match once it was going against them.

Are they things which will come as the team develops? “We hope so. You’re right that sometimes you have to live through things as a team to come out the other end of it and it’s one thing talking about certain situations in pre-season or in an off-season or in a meeting room but it’s another thing to live through them.

“You only learn from your experiences if you’re open to reflect on them and really look at what you can do better in those [situations], and we’ve done that.

“And it’s such a long season that we’re going to go through those situations again - we’re going to be ahead in games, we’re going to be behind in games, we’re going to have late equalisers against us, we’re going to have late equalisers for us, we’re going to some games like we did at Burton or Accrington where we hang on or where we hold onto a lead well, and you can have games where you lose a lead.

“You need to learn from each situation and make sure that you’ve taken the right lessons and you’re doing the right things in those situations and the more you do that, the more luck is going to fall your way because it’s a low-scoring sport and luck certainly has a part in it and you can only do the right things and control the things you can control and hope that the rub of the green and the things that you can’t control fall your way.”

In the wake of actor Michael Sheen’s viral teamtalk for the Welsh squad, McKenna was asked about his own approach.

“It would take some doing to better that speech!” he laughed. “I think it’s about knowing the group and knowing what they need in different moments. It’s about knowing your players, knowing the group, what the dynamic is, what they’re going to need.

“Certain games you don’t feel that they need a rousing speech and the motivation is there and they might need to be calmed. And there are other games when you feel that you might need to inspire or motivate them in different ways.

“We look at it each day really; what are the messages that the players need to hear today at the training ground, what is the tone that we want to set and we adapt and adjust that every day and every training session and certainly for every game.

“It’s obviously something that will stay indoors but we try ensure that everything’s right for the players on any given day.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Suffolkboy added 16:21 - Sep 30 KM really does appear to have ALL bases covered ! Impressive - or what ? COYB
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johnwarksshorts added 16:39 - Sep 30 So eloquent. He has a great philosophy. Class Act.
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