Warrington Rylands boss David McNabb was gracious in their defeat to Kidsgrove Athletic as their title push was dented.
McNabb ruled out their title charge based on their inconsistencies as they were edged out by the relegation-threatened side.
It marked the end of their four-match winning run that saw important triumphs over Widnes, Mossley, Marine and Colne.
But the Rylands boss has already noticed a reaction as they eye an immediate reaction against Glossop North End.
“I don’t think we deserved to get anything from the game, I was impressed with Kidsgrove, they worked really hard, they had a game plan, put it to full effect and on the day we wasn’t good enough,” he told Off The Park.
“I’m not using it as an excuse; we had some players missing, senior players who’ve got that experience and can really rally the troops a little bit when things aren’t going well.
“I don’t know if it was complacency or whether there was an element of where things have gone wrong and they haven’t been able to put things right.
“From start to finish, on the ball we were poor in possession and it felt from the sidelines that Kidsgrove wanted it more.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy coming into it and we prepared like we do for every game whether it’s the team at the top or team that’s bottom but ultimately it didn’t work on the day.
“I think we’ve seen a bit of a reaction in training, the lads know they need to put it right, it’s not the getting beat that hurts the most it’s the performance and the matter of it.
“At this moment in time, I think we’re still a little bit too inconsistent to say we’re good enough to win the league.
“Our longest run is four games on the bounce, we’ve done three before but we’re just a little bit too inconsistent to say we’re challengers.
“Obviously the longer that goes on, the bigger, the point gap is between the top two who for me stand out in the league.
“We set ourselves an ambition to squeeze into the play-offs so we’re firmly in that place now. The key is now gaining that consistency, performance, results and hopefully we can take that into the play-offs if we’re fortunate enough to be in the top five.
“We’re reminding the lads that going in to Saturday that it’s not really the result it’s the performance, it was completely unacceptable and below the standard that this group set itself.
“What we’re looking for is to bounce back and with a really good performance, work ethic, doing the simple, basic things right and hopefully that can lead to three points.”
[Featured image: Warrington Rylands – Mark Percy]
