Last Saturday’s defeat to Oxford gave the players a feeling that they never want to feel again and Tom Pett believes that they can use it as motivation going forward.
Looking back on the previous weekend, Pett says they have analysed what went wrong.
“The first 20 minutes were really disappointing on our part, coming out slow. We have watched the tape back numerous times and we have seen what we could have done a lot better. Oxford came out very quick, at a high tempo and that is what we want to be doing at home.
“Sometimes when you have ten men, it is difficult for the opposition and we did alright during that period I think.
“Had my shot which the keeper saved gone in on 60 minutes, it could have been different but after going down to nine men and then conceding the third goal – it became an almost impossible situation.
“They made the most of it, moved the ball well and showed their quality.”
With a big FA Cup game coming up this Saturday at the Lamex, Pett says the team have moved on and are now getting ready for the upcoming game.
“The gaffer has been speaking about how although we shouldn’t forget about it, we need to put it to the back of our minds now.
“We have to use the experience to go forward and use it as motivation. Myself and plenty of the other younger lads have never played with ten men so we will learn from that and we don’t want to feel the way we did after the game again.
“We have been in Monday and Tuesday, watched the tape and gone over it all. You have to move on at some point though and there is no point dwelling on it as we have a big game this Saturday. We are now fully focused on getting right for Gillingham.
“Obviously it is an FA Cup tie and away from the league. We have done well against some of the stronger teams this season and we feel we can raise our game and get the result we need. We will certainly try to get on top of the game early and impose ourselves on Gillingham.”