Ian Evatt insisted Wanderers’ ambitions remain unaltered after seeing his side’s seven-match unbeaten run ended at Burton.
A 3-1 loss at the Brewers prevented Wanderers from closing in further on the League One play-off places.
Evatt was left frustrated by the manner of defeat as Burton plundered three goals in an eight-minute spell early in the first half – all from set-pieces.
But the Wanderers’ boss isn’t writing off his side’s chances of staying in the mix as they prepare for a home double-header against AFC Wimbledon and Lincoln City.
“I am just sorry for our fans who have come all this way and witnessed us getting beaten,” said Evatt, who has guided the Whites to within eight points of the play-off zone with 14 games to go.
“We lost the game based on three set-plays in a few minutes.
“It’s frustrating and the manner of it. We have to look at it but not dwell on it because we’ve got more games coming.
“We knew we were never going to go the rest of the season winning every game.
“We knew we were going to get beaten at some point. It’s about now how we react.
“Just because we’ve lost this game doesn’t mean our ambitions are finished.
“It just makes it more challenging. We have to make sure we win our next two home games and then rebuild some momentum again.”
Evatt made four changes to his side to try and refresh tired limbs and combat a physically powerful home side and a tricky playing surface.
But the Wanderers’ re-shaped line-up left itself too much to do after a disastrous start.
And despite dominating for long spells after that, a goal wouldn’t come until Dion Charles came off the bench to score his fifth goal for the club in injury-time.
“I picked the biggest team I possibly could because I knew what was coming,” added Evatt, who confirmed that defender Gethin Jones will be back in the squad on Saturday.
“Everyone could see the conditions, we knew what they were about and we just didn’t individually do our jobs and deal with our men. That’s cost us the game.
“When you come to these games and these grounds you’ve got to cope with that and it seems to be a deficiency and an Achilles heel for us at the moment.
“We set a number and a task to ourselves inside our four walls for what we needed to do to have an opportunity and losing this game doesn’t really change anything, it just makes it a little bit harder.”
To watch the manager’s post-match interview, click HERE