Charlie Colkett admitted that the 4-2 defeat to Sheffield United at The County Ground on Tuesday was hard to take.
Goals from Caolan Lavery and Kieron Freeman had put The Blades firmly in the driving seat at half-time, but Colkett and Ben Gladwin both struck in quick succession to haul their side level shortly after the interval.
However, a disallowed goal swung the tie back in United’s favour and they went on to win the game thanks to strikes from Jay O’Shea and Paul Coutts, leaving Colkett frustrated.
“We were highly disappointed with the result but it was a difficult first-half and they showed why they are top of the league,” he said.
“They were very good but we matched them in the second-half, dug in deep and finally got our foot in the game.
“It just slipped away from us at the end.
“It was really difficult after the third goal went in but you just have to dig deep and if the game went on for ten minutes longer then who knows what could have happened.
“It is going to take big characters, a big fight and a big push to get us out of trouble and over the last few games we showed what we can produce, we just need to do that for the whole 90 minutes and really step up to the plate now.
“We have to regain ourselves mentally and just keep digging in.”
Colkett notched his first-ever goal for The Reds against United on Tuesday with a superb effort from distance, and the midfielder was happy to have opened his account for the club.
“I have been having a bit of banter with the lads about getting on the scoresheet and I’ve had a few assists, so I knew a goal was in me somewhere,” he continued.
“It came at the right time but we just couldn’t go on to win the game.”
Finally, Charlie is hoping lightning strikes twice at Bradford City this weekend having scored against the Bantams earlier in the season.
“I went to Bradford with Bristol Rovers earlier in the season and I managed to score a goal there and save us a point, so hopefully I can do that at the weekend,” he added.
“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves, we’ve got to keep pushing and you hope that there is a bit of luck along the way and some teams around you help you out.
“We’ll just focus on ourselves and hopefully it will come together.”
