Stephen Robinson had to witness another 1-0 defeat on Saturday, this time at the hands of league leaders Scunthorpe United. Once again, the defeat was down to poor finishing and Robinson’s pre-match comments could in future be written beforehands, taking the main points from the previous game. After this loss he commented,
“I think the game should have been out of sight by half time and if we were 4-0 up, I don’t think Graham Alexander would have had any complaints. We have missed from three or four yards, an open goal, two one-on-ones inside the penalty area and Freddie has a shot from close range as well so if you don’t take your chances, you don’t win the game. We are playing against the top of the league side who are playing superb football at the moment so we are obviously going to come under a little bit of pressure but we weathered that. We defended well but we then go down to 10 men which after that we have no chance. Whether it was or wasn’t a sending off, I don’t know.”
“The boys are getting into them areas but missing the chances, what more can I say to them. I cannot come out and vilify them, ultimately I have to take the blame for it. We go to Port Vale but if we go there and play the way we did for 60/70 minutes of today’s game then we will win more games than we lose, but not if you don’t score. We have two choices, we either feel sorry for ourselves or we keep going and dig in. We have a good group of boys, they gave absolutely everything. Nobody means to miss a chance, nobody doesn’t mean to not put it in from three or four yards, but we are all human beings and make mistakes sometimes unfortunately.”
“Ultimately, I will take the blame for it as I brought the players in and they are not scoring goals but I can't ask any more from them. The work-rate and energy, even when down to 10 men, showed through and I didn't think Scunthorpe were going to score. But if you don't score the chances we had in the first half against a side of that calibre, then you are not going to win the game.”