Paul Dickov speaks more about Doncaster Rovers 3-1 defeat to Birmingham on Saturday.
Doncaster Rovers were defeated at home for the first time in the league since Boxing Day of 2013 on Saturday, after conceding three second half goals against Birmingham.Paul Dickov believes his side should have gone on to win the game after being 1-0 up at half time and here's what he had to say after the match:
"I think the defeat was probably self inflicted. We came in at half time one nil up without playing as well as we have done recently. And if you're going to give away goals like we did, through individual errors then you are going to struggle to win games in this division.
"I don't think we lost belief, but even in the first half when we were winning, we weren't as good as we have been recently with and without the ball.
"Just before they scored, their keeper has pulled off a fantastic save from Lucas Neill, and if that goes in we're two nil up and from there we probably would have gone on to win the game.
"We talk a lot about defining moments in matches that can cost you, and a few minutes after that great chance we haven't cleared the ball properly, we've taken our time on the ball and then they've put the ball in the back of the net and punished us for it.
"But all three goals we're very disappointed with, because defensively we've been good recently and today it was individual errors that cost us the game."
"It was obviously a blow to lose Meite in the warm up but we can't use that as an excuse because we had our chances. Maybe losing Richie yesterday and Meite today, who have been two big factors in our form recently, has affected the players, but either way it was a poor performance."
"Defensively you've got to be at it all the time, and we have been very good recently, the results have shown that. But thinking back, we probably had the three best chances of the game as well so we can't just blame the lapse in concentration at the back and conceding the goals. If you're going to miss your chances at one end and not defend as well as you should do at the other end you're simply not going to win games.
"Tuesday night we'll get a reaction. We know that we're are a good team, and we're a team who play well at home. So we need to get back to that as quickly as possible.
"We have six massive games left. We're still sitting in a decent position at the minute, it could be a lot worse for us and the one thing we do is we go again. We keep the boys positive like we did after Leeds last week and after Sheffield Wednesday here a few weeks ago. They were very good victories for us but you draw a line under it and you go again, which is exactly what we will do after the defeat today."
"Meite will get assessed tomorrow for Tuesday's game. Richie improved very quickly in the first half of last week but just couldn't make it all the way to be fit for today."
"Obviously we were delighted when we scored the goal, and the build up play was good, but I still don't think we played as well as we have done recently.
"The game got away from us, and whether that's because we missed the influence that Richie and Meite have, I don't know. But I don't want to take anything away from Birmingham because I thought they were fantastic once they got the equaliser and they deserved to go on and win the game.
"If we'd have taken our chances the game would have had a different outcome, but it's how their three goals came about that is a huge disappointment to us.
"One of the reasons we bought Lucas Neill in is because of his experience, his versatility and he is a top player as well, and I thought he showed that again today despite the result."
James Coppinger made his 400th appearance for Doncaster Rovers yesterday and the crowd were quick to praise the long serving Rovers midfielder by giving him a standing ovation and minutes applause in the 26th minute of the game. Paul Dickov was also quick to praise James and all that he has done for the club:
"James got a fantastic reception from the crowd and he deserved it. I'm disappointed for the fans and for Copps that we couldn't get a result today because that would have been great for him.
"But it is still a fantastic achievement, we shouldn't dwell on the result for that. For any player these days to reach 400 appearances for a club is a rare occasion and he definitely deserves a lot of credit for it."
Doncaster Rovers are still 7 points clear of the relegation zone with six games left to play and face Bolton Wanderers at home on Tuesday night.