*BS*Chris Kinnear spoke of his disappointment after the side’s 3-0 defeat at Braintree Town on Tuesday night, but assures fans that mistakes will be learnt from.*BF*
After seeing his side fall to their second defeat in two games, Kinnear admitted: “It’s a big learning curve in this league – that’s what we were talking about in the dressing room after the game. There was no screaming and shouting.
“Tonight it was all about dead balls – their number 6 has won the game for them really. We’ve got to be stronger in both boxes if we want to score, and that’s what we talked about.
“The two teams we’ve played against, I haven’t seen a side that’s been a better football team than us – they’ve just been stronger in both boxes. I knew the lads weren’t going to lie down, it’s not in their make-up – what was disappointing was that we gave a couple of free-kicks and silly corners away and they got on the end of them. That’s what makes it difficult.
“We said that we’re going in there with a few lads who haven’t played in this league before, and they know now that they’ve got to be brave and put their heads in more. Before you could get away with it but that won’t happen now.
“We’ve played two games, against the fifth and sixth placed sides last season, and there will be a lot of sides who don’t score against either. And the next game will be harder, against one of the favourites for the league but it’s good to get them out of the way.
“To prepare for it and improve what we’ve seen in these two games we’ll be working through things in training. We have got to create a few more chances and get on the end of them, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.
“Against Halifax, I thought it was close but we weren’t switched off as we came out for the second half and today it was from dead balls. Last season we didn’t give concede many from set pieces but we need to be stronger. Even the full-backs and midfielders in this league have got shoulders twice the size of what we came up against last season.
“But we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, there’s no pointing fingers and having a go at the lads – it’s getting their heads up and preparing for the next game.
“If you want to play at a decent standard then you have to accept the travelling will be longer – we’ll go as far as we need to if it gets up three points. It’s part of football – the higher you play, the more you travel.
“We have got to create a few more chances and get on the end of them, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.
“The first two games are what we expected – we thought they would be strong and competitive, there’s no doubt about that. We are all disappointed, we’re all in it together. As long as we know where we’re going wrong then there is a chance to move on and learn.”
Whites travel to face Grimsby Town on Saturday.