Steven Schumacher told his players to keep their heads up after the heartache of a late Sheffield United winner.
Wanderers twice led the unbeaten Blades at Bramall Lane and were only seconds away from a point following two quickfire equalisers from the hosts.
But even that prize was snatched away in the dying moments when Romelle Donovan rifled in the decider to make it 3-2 and sentence Schumacher’s men to a harsh second successive defeat following the weekend’s first league loss to Lincoln City.
“I said Saturday was tough to take in a game that we felt we deserved to win and tonight's probably even worse because to put in performance like we have done, at a tough place to come back against top players with loads of experience, it’s harder," said the Wanderers' boss.
“In that second half in particular we've done enough to definitely win the game, and certainly to take a point, but for us to take nothing is hard and it's something we're going to have to learn quickly not to do too often.
“I said just keep your head up. The fans can see what we're trying to do. We know what our strengths are as a team, we know where we still need to improve and get better.
“But just keep your head up and don't lose belief because I think three out of the four games in the Championship we've deserved to win. The one we probably didn't deserve to get anything from, QPR, we did because our goalkeeper was in brilliant form that day. Tonight it's been the opposite, their goalkeeper was in brilliant form.”
Michael Cooper – beaten after just 24 seconds when Xavier Simons put Wanderers in front in a dramatic start – was certainly a key man after the break as the keeper, who previously played under Schumacher at Plymouth Argyle, made a handful of saves to keep the rampant Whites at bay.
He couldn’t prevent Sam Dalby heading home a cross from dangerman Thierry Gale but against United weren’t behind for long and the late winner belied a rousing finish from Wanderers before their fatal late lapse.
“We got stronger and again that's a positive sign, four games in,” added Schumacher who completed his transfer business with the arrival of striker Theo Bair on loan from French top-flight outfit Auxerre ahead of Tuesday night’s deadline. “In the first game (against Preston) I felt we drifted away because of the physicality of it. In the second game it was back to the wall.
“In the third game we looked a little bit stronger physically and went to the end and certainly tonight, so that's positive because we know how important the late goals were for us last year.
“Now it's just important that when it is late in the game you don't make any mistakes because players at this level, when you make a mistake like we did at the very end, they punish you.
“I was devastated for the fans. Our home support on Saturday was excellent but tonight, again, they were brilliant and they've seen that the players are giving absolutely everything.
“We were a bit naive, certainly for a few of their goals, and we lacked a little bit of quality with some of our finishing maybe, but we didn't lack effort and as long as we do that we'll be in a chance to compete at this level, hopefully.”
Watch the full post-match interview with the boss on Wanderers TV