Steve Cotterill met with the press after today's game at The Valley.
Miles Leaburn scored twice while Scott Fraser, Albie Morgan, Jes Rak-Sakyi and Macauley Bonne were also on target as the hosts ran out 6-0 winners.
On what was a miserable afternoon for Town, Tom Flanagan was very harshly sent off in the second half for handball.
Matt Pennington also had to come off after the interval with an injury.
ON THE GAME:
"I have never been beaten 6-0. That is a first. It’s very difficult to give your reaction, very difficult. I never saw that coming.
"We trained very well this week. We actually started the game well. Their three goals were all against the run of the play.
"But against the run of play with our mistakes – and that is unlike us. It was unlike us.
"Going in 3-0 down at half-time, we didn’t deserve to be 3-0 down at half-time.
"The fourth goal, we haven’t defended well enough on that one.
"Then just after that, you have got the sending off and it’s not a sending off – not that its had any bearing on the game today, getting three points anyway.
"But it’s not a sending-off.
"Then the penalty goes in and your down to 10 men and it’s an uphill battle."
ON THE LOSS BEING OUT OF CHARACTER:
"We were competitive in the first half. But we have given away three poor goals.
"We were competitive in the first half. We probably had the better chances.
"The goals they have scored have ended up being really, really, good goals from young players. Leaburn, Rak-Sakyi – who is a talent, a big talent. Those goals have opened us up today."
ON A POTENTIAL APPEAL FOR THE RED CARD:
"You can’t even see that it hits Tom Flanagan on the arm at all from the footage I have just looked at.
"The referee wasn’t going to give it and then he turned back.
"I just thought today there were a few things that were swinging their way in the first half.
"And you don’t want to come to a big club and get their supporters up and get their player's confidence up – that is what we didn’t want to do.
"And we found ourselves in that situation by being 3-0 down.
"Then when you go down to 10 men it makes it even harder – you want to try and nick a goal, get a goal back and have a bit of pride.
"I thought probably in the second half, I thought we were a little naïve. We weren’t naïve in the first half.
"But some poor bits of defending, giving the ball away in bad areas – we haven’t done that before.
"When I looked at how we trained in the week – you wouldn’t see that coming.
"We trained really, really, well this week. It’s a tough one to take."
ON MATT PENNINGTON:
"We are hoping he is okay. We are hoping he is okay.
"Where Matt had his concussion before, we don’t think it is a concussion – we think he’s alright.
"But let’s just wait and see how that one is. But that doesn’t help when you lose two of your three centre-backs."
ON BOTH HE AND THE PLAYERS THANKING THE FANS AT THE END:
"That was nice. It’s a long way to come. There were lots of them.
"We have given them some very good times this season.
"And I think they know that and appreciate that which is why you go over there.
"You have to go over there whether you win or you lose.
"It’s easy to stand there and applaud them when you win. It’s easy to do that.
"But the difficult one is you have to go there and take that defeat – as hard as it is and you have got to go and appreciate the same people you have appreciated all year."
ON REKEIL PYKE NOT BEING IN THE SQUAD:
"His Achilles tendon is really sore. It has been a problem for him. He is not running at the moment.
"He has been off of that for a couple of weeks now, since Ipswich. He is not running and he hasn’t trained for two weeks.
"Achilles tendons are very temperamental so it’s difficult to say when he’ll be back."
