Head coach Matt Taylor spoke to the media following Shrewsbury's 2-0 defeat at Stevenage.
Second-half goals from Aaron Pressley and Jamie Reid won it for the hosts at The Lamex Stadium.
Town enjoyed an opening-day win over Cheltenham last Saturday before going on to put in an impressive display at Leeds in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
And speaking to the assembled media, Matt was disappointed his side didn't hit the same level of performance they have shown in their opening two games.
ON THE GAME:
“I thought it was a game of both boxes.
“We weren’t clinical enough in their box and we didn’t defend well enough in ours – so you get punished.
“I just felt in terms of us implementing what we wanted to do today, we didn’t quite get there and that is obviously disappointing.
“Take nothing away from Stevenage in terms of how they played. It’s effective.
“But we didn’t deal with the threats they pose well enough today and that’s something all of us need to learn from.”
ON THE GOALS CONCEDED:
“I’m frustrated with any goals we concede because you always talk about them being avoidable.
“I think what’s important is that we go back and look at them and digest – without emotion – what has happened.
“I just felt we never really got going in terms of how I want the team to play and the way we have played for the last two games.
“Was the fact the players haven’t had a day off this week, was the fact that they are tired (a factor)? Maybe.
"I’m not looking for excuses I’m just telling the truth. We have had a tough week in terms of fixtures.
"They (Stevenage) have had an extra day – has that had something to do with it? I don’t know, we will have a look at the raw data in the next couple of hours and try and decipher the reasons as to why we weren’t quite ourselves today.
“But we also have to understand in three days' time we play again and I don’t think that game will be wholly different from what we faced here today.
“So we have to be ready and we have to make sure we are better than we were today.”
ON WANTING MORE GOING FORWARD:
“You always want more. But as a coach, as a manager, it’s imperative that your team go out and believe in themselves and believe in each other.
“And I just felt that today we probably weren’t where we needed to be in terms of in possession.
“The players understood what they were going to face in terms of the opposition. But we didn’t deal with that well enough today.
“But the thing for me is the players need to take more risks. That’s not asking them to do anything they’ve not already done.
“From my perspective, the standards we have set – we didn’t hit today. Now we have all got to go away and have a look at why.
“But I’m also aware it’s only the second game of the season, there is a hell of a lot of football to be played.
“Nobody, though, wants to lose football matches, especially me, the staff and the players.”
ON CHEY DUNKLEY AND ELLIOTT BENNETT RETURNING:
“I look at both of those – I've seen how hard Chey has worked. To have him back out on the pitch is massive for us as a football club.
“Elliott is ahead of schedule in terms of having his appendix out.
“They are two massive pluses for us today. We managed to get minutes into them. I would just have preferred to have brought them on when things were slightly tighter in terms of the result.
“But that is a positive from today - we are starting to see players come back into the fold.
“In terms of today, everyone seems okay which is important.
"The players and the staff now need to reflect and make sure we digest this and we learn from it.
“The players will definitely get that opportunity. And then we have to make sure we are ready for Tuesday.
“Where football is great, regardless of what has happened today – is in three days time we have got an opportunity to make sure we put it right at home, in front of our fans.
“I’m excited about that but slightly disappointed with how we’ve played today.”
ON NOW HAVING BACK-TO-BACK HOME GAMES:
“I think it will be good for our players to hear the roar of our supporters.
“The away fans that travelled today we excellent. I commend them for coming, I would imagine there were quite a few of them who were at Leeds on Wednesday night as well.
“We know that it’s not easy so we’re disappointed they haven’t seen the best version of their team today.”
ON ELLIOT THORPE'S BACK INJURY:
“We will find out for definite on Monday – I’m not sure yet how it is looking.
“We are waiting for the scan to be read. We thought it would be read yesterday, it wasn’t.
“What we’re hoping for is positive news, but I’ll know more on Monday.
“Elliot was here today, he wanted to come down off his own back so that shows you how committed he is.
“We hope it’s good news but at the moment we’re unsure.”
ON MAX MATA’S VISA:
“I have no idea (whether his Visa will arrive for Tuesday). I’ve just spoken to Micky (director of football Micky Moore) about that. I asked him the same question you asked me.
“We don’t know – it's with the Home Office. All we do know is we have two players up front – we need reinforcements in those areas – we are acutely aware of that.
“What we are hoping is that Max is available as soon as possible. He is ready to play. He is chomping at the bit to be involved.
“As and when that is I don’t know. We just hope it will be sooner rather than later.”
