Nathan Jones wants to see a positive reaction from his side on Saturday when they host newly-relegated Rotherham United at The Valley.
“It’s always a keenly contested game [when you play Rotherham]," explained the gaffer. "They’re perennial promotion-contenders from League One and they’ll be tough opposition - we know that. Every week is different and that’s what’s so great about the league; it’s a totally different test and a real stern test.
"I watched them when they lost to Wycombe and, to be fair, they had the better chances. It could have gone the other way. Then obviously they beat Huddersfield who, again, are one of the favourites to go up. They are a good side with good players, a strong squad and they recruited heavily in the summer.”
Reflecting on his side’s start to the season, Jones said: “I think we’d have taken three [wins] from four. If you keep doing three from four then you’re going to be in a wonderful position, so let’s not forget that.
"We have a goal setting thing every five games and we’re on target for that, so that’s all you can do. Sometimes you have games that you don’t believe you should lose that you do lose, sometimes you win games that you probably nicked and sometimes you just get what you deserve. As long as you keep hitting your targets, that’s all we can do.
"There’s no point dwelling on a negative when that can then contribute to the next game, so what we have to do is learn from whatever went wrong on Saturday at Reading and then try to put that right at home at The Valley.”
Asked if he was looking to give the returning Miles Leaburn a runout in the U21s, Jones said: “He’s probably days - and that could be double figures in days - more than weeks away from actually playing in a game so that’s a good thing. We’ve got to be careful with him and we’ve got to push him now in training to get him to the levels where we feel we can expose him to a match and then we’ll have no fear in doing that.”
It's time. Be there. Click here to join the journey and purchase your 2024/25 season ticket.
