James Gibbons has vowed he and his Bristol Rovers teammates will do all they can to ensure they delivered the required response after slumping to a 5-1 thrashing at Morecambe on Saturday.
Manager Joey Barton described it as "embarrassing" and the worst performance of his near-two-year tenure as the Gas capitulated in the second half at the Mazuma Stadium until Aaron Collins provided the merest of consolation goals in the final minute.
Back-to-back defeats have dropped Rovers to 12th in League One, which still represents a strong season in progress after promotion last year, but the losses at Morecambe and Accrington in the past fortnight contain red flags that Barton will want to banish immediately – with a busy end to the transfer window on the cards.
Versatile defender Gibbons opened up on the "hurt" that was felt in the dressing room after the final whistle and the need to respond quickly.
"A few of us have said (in the dressing room) what we think of the performance," he said. "It wasn’t good enough and it’s about how we bounce back. We’ve got a home game coming up and we need to put it right. We will have a good week of training and see where we can get better.
"When you concede five, you’ve got no chance, no matter how good your attack is. We know that, we’ve got to work on it in training, debrief on Monday, see what’s happening and see where we can get better.
"It hurts. Defenders pride themselves on clean sheets and when you get five put past you, it hurts. It’s not nice, it’s insulting, and that’s how it should be. You shouldn’t be proud if you concede five away from home.
"I thought we defended well at Cambridge and against Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, we were very good. We have had two off days in the past two games for whatever reason, but we will definitely look to put it right because we have a good group, a great squad of players and some real quality in there, and some good defenders as well.
"We’ve got to piece it all back together and we’ll be back on the way."
Gibbons believes Rovers have been guilty of letting themselves down in the past two games, adamant that they are better defenders than the dual defeats in the North West have shown.
He said: "We know today was an off day and we know Accrington was an off day, but you can’t afford to have too many off days in this league. We’ve also had some great performances. With the attack we’ve got, as long as we defend well they will score goals for you.
"The result wasn’t good enough, the performance wasn’t good enough. We know that, we will dust ourselves down and go again.
"We know we’ve got the squad to not put in performances like that week in, week out. We know that for a fact. We’ve got a great squad with great individuals, a great attack and some young hungry defenders who do want to defend. Today’s result doesn’t reflect that, but we do believe in ourselves and it’s about getting back to what is our way.
"There are still loads of games and we know we can hit the run of form we’re capable of with the squad we’ve got. It’s just about getting back to that and getting back to how we play and what we do best. We will have a meeting on Monday and sort through all that."
Despite the ugly scoreline, new signing Jarell Quansah did enough to impress in the heart of the defence and Gibbons was quick to spare the 19-year-old Liverpool loanee any blame.
"I thought Jarell was excellent, probably one of our best players out there," he added. "As a 19-year-old, he didn’t look out of place whatsoever.
"He dealt with the threat and the physicality well, so well done to him, but it’s definitely a result for him to forget and it’s a shame we couldn’t get the right result for him and Ellery (Balcombe) on their debuts."
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