MANAGER Brian Little was still up beat following this reverse at Rotherham United, when the home side took advantage of Matt Crowell's red card after just 14 minutes:

"I thought our system suited us today, at least for the first 14 minutes, until we went down to 10-men!

"We came with a game plan and early on we did start to get behind them, but that all went out of the window with Matty's dismissal.

"I'm not sure he made much contact, but I can understand the referee's decision.

"It was a shame for Matty, as he has done well in training and played a part in the midweek game against Everton. He was obviously eager to impress and it has cost him dear.

"That decision also cost us the game.

"To play here with 11 men was going to be hard enough against a very useful Rotherham team, but a man short brought us added problems we just didn't need.

"Our first aim was to get through to half time without conceding, but we couldn't quite do that and it was also disappointing that we gave away that first goal.

"From our point of view it was a silly goal to let in, as it stemmed from us attacking. Wes gave the ball away cheaply and we never really recovered our composure, which ended with Derek Holmes being presented with the ball and he wasn't going to miss for a second time.

"At the interval we decided to push a second striker forward and while this was always going to leave us a little stretched in midfield, I thought we looked dangerous at times.

"The second turning point was Sam's miss, after he done well to get through and find himself in the position of going up against their keeper.

"If that went in, then we were back on level terms and would have been better placed to see the rest of the game out.

"As it was, we eventually got caught again and their third gave the game a score line which I don't think reflected our efforts.

"I feel we are improving and bordering on getting something out of games like this, but we do need to turn the corner fairly soon.