Bristol Rovers defender Lewis Gordon believes the Gas are letting opponents "have it too easy" as their losing streak in League One was extended to three games on Saturday.
A Gas side down on confidence conceded early and late goals to suffer a 2-0 loss to MK Dons, with an early penalty and a lack of penetration despite plenty of possession costing Joey Barton's side dearly.
Gordon and his teammates are adamant that this poor run, which has dropped Rovers to 13th in the table, will end soon, but he believes the Gas need to toughen up at the back, and that is the responsibility of the whole team.
"We’re letting the opposition have it too easy in terms of the goals," Gordon said. "You see the goals the opposition are scoring against us and you see the goals Azza (Aaron Collins) and Josh (Coburn) are scoring, they are quite tough goals but we are just letting people walk into the box and giving up easy chances that end in a goal.
"We have got to be stronger defensively and that is throughout the whole team.
"We know the level of players we have here and we know we can achieve much more than we have at the moment. We just need to emulate what we were doing before but we’re not looking to survive, we’re much better than that."
The defensive record has been Rovers' Achilles heel all season, conceding 52 goals in 29 league games. For much of the campaign, the Gas have overcome those struggles with the goals of Collins and Coburn, but it has been tough going for them lately with Rovers often conceding first, allowing defences to drop deeper and give up less space in behind.
Gordon says Rovers need to do more to enable their match-winners to thrive.
"We are going through quite a bad stage at the moment and we know how good we are as a team as we showed earlier in the season," he added. "We know we can do a lot better, so when you’re in these games where you’re 1-0 or 2-0 down, you know you should be getting more out of the game and playing better. It’s frustrating.
"Everyone has got their roles but we just need to stick together, which we are doing and I’m sure we’ll come out of this patch a lot better.
"We know what the front side of our team can do, it is one of the best in the league if not the best, so defensively, we can’t let them counter us so easily because that’s what teams are going to do. They are going to try to counter us because we look vulnerable at the back at the moment.
"We have got to do more to feed the front side and not let the opposition score.
"Naturally, the other team are going to sit in a bit and absorb the pressure (after scoring early). If we didn’t give up the early goal, it would have been a much different game but we did and we have to find a way to come out of that stronger and find a way to get one or two goals to get the win or draw."
Barton may be brutally honest with his players, but he is not one to use the hairdryer treatment often. Gordon says the manager had words of encouragement for the squad after Saturday's defeat.
"He’s telling us to keep our heads up," Gordon revealed. "He knows we’re going to get out of this patch. We have shown how good we are at the start of the season.
"He just wants us to keep together, but he knows we are struggling defensively and feeding that other side. We need to be better and work out ways to prevent that."
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