Steven Schumacher says his team must find a way not to lose – regardless of the league table, writes Pete Oliver.
Wanderers’ play-off hopes are seemingly all but over on the back of a run of six defeats in eight games following their 2-0 loss to Wycombe.
The Chairboys moved back into the automatic promotion spots but the League One standings are not Schumacher’s immediate concerns as he strives to get an injury-hit squad to stop the rot with three games to go.
“We said it through the week that most of their games have been 1-0, decided by a single goal because they do all the basics well,” said Schumacher, whose side went behind after an hour before conceding a second goal in stoppage time to stay three points and plenty of goals adrift of the top six.
“I said that they don't make any mistakes, they defend their goal well and they've got firepower at the top end of the pitch and somehow they find a way to win. Everything at the moment that our team can't do and that's why they look like they might go up automatically and we're going to fall short.
“It has been hard to try and pick a team and we've lost some big players but I said to the lads through the week, with adversity it becomes an opportunity for somebody else and step up and take your chance now.
“A lot of the performance was what we expected. We have all the ball, they don't move out of their slots, they make it very frustrating and we have to try and find some quality, which again we didn't manage to do because there isn't loads out there.
“I'm not looking at the table and saying: ‘come on, we're still in with chance’, because we've lost six out of eight now. That’s not promotion-winning form and even if you get there there's going to be so many better teams above us who are stronger at the moment.
"We've just got to find a way to not get beat. Even if you don't play well, get a draw. That game should have been a draw but we make a mistake, give a foul away and we lose a header on the back post that shouldn't have gone in.
“It was just too easy to score and then the second goal is what it is, so I'm not really bothered about the table right now. I just want to see us perform and have a go.”
Wanderers are without 10 senior players through injury and must re-group for a Bank Holiday Monday trip to Lincoln City.
And there could be another opportunity at Sincil Bank for 18-year-old striker David Abimbola, whose introduction off the bench for a senior debut was the bright spot of another disappointing afternoon.
“He's the only positive out of the day and I’m made up for him,” added Schumacher. “He’s a young kid and every time he trains with the first team he sort of plays with no fear. He's a bit raw, he's got loads of work to do and he's not the finished article.
“But he came on and bashed someone about straight away and it was the biggest cheer of the afternoon, so that's what you want. It just show a little bit of desire, a little bit of hunger.
“I've just to the players I didn't want to be this type of manager who comes in and angles something at them that's been said before, but it's a bit soft. It's been said about this group before and he's just come on with a physical presence and just smashed into someone and all of a sudden gets everyone going.
“If we have another 10 players doing that from the start of the game then the atmosphere in here would be a lot better and it would give us a better chance to win.
“I might even play him on Monday. I just don't know yet and we might throw a few more of the young lads in. Why not? They might show a bit of energy, a bit of enthusiasm, so I don't know.
“It's hard at the moment. There’s loads of players that we can't call on, good players as well that we're missing, but we've got to respond because we're going to a team that has won again today who are playing really well at the minute, so it's going to be another tough afternoon.”
Watch the full post-match interview with the head coach on Wanderers TV