Ian Evatt is backing his players to bounce back at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.
The Whites turned in a below-par performance to see their four-match winning streak end in disappointing fashion at Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night.
But Evatt is expecting a positive reaction from his troops back in Gloucestershire this weekend when Wanderers head to the New Lawn in search of a second away win of the campaign.
“They are an honest bunch. They understood it wasn’t acceptable,” said the Wanderers’ boss.
“We were really disappointed. It was a fantastic opportunity to cement a really good start to the season – I think our best start to a season in 20-odd years.
“That speaks volumes really and we mustn’t get too high with the highs or low with the lows.
“We’re going to have off days and that was certainly an off day.
“Now it’s about learning from that, respecting and understanding what went wrong and making sure we have a reaction on Saturday.
“I just want to see a better performance than I saw on Tuesday night. I have no doubt that we will.
“The players are smarting. They’re hurting and they want to put it right.”
With 20 points from their opening 10 games, Evatt’s men had pieced together the club’s best start to a season since the turn of the century.
The defeat to a late goal at Cheltenham knocked the Whites off their two points a game ratio as they lost for only the third time in League One this season and third time in 19 games stretching back to last term.
But Wanderers remain in sixth spot in the table with the chance to stay in the thick of the early promotion action if they can regain the winning thread against a Forest Green side currently occupying a bottom-three berth.
“It’s not the end of the world but we don’t like losing very much. That probably shows how far we’ve come that we don’t do it very often,” added Evatt, who has a fully fit squad to select from after Conor Bradley and Kieran Lee were rested in mid-week.
“It was the manner in which we lost which really disappointed me. I thought we weren’t at our usual physical level and away from home in particular it’s vital you show that physical element to your game.
“We didn’t show that and hopefully we can react in the right manner on Saturday.
“All is not lost. We’ve had a decent start and we’ve got another opportunity to get back on the winning trail.
“We’re hurting with the way we performed and one that got away, but we’ve got another fantastic opportunity to put that right.”