Misery for Curle on return to Mansfield

They have now not won or scored in six successive games, but Curle vowed: “We will come again.

“At the minute we are being slapped left and right, and rightly so because we are not doing the simple things well.

“We didn’t do the simple things well continuously and ultimately that is what cost us.

“All they did consistently was put the ball in behind us and got after it and ran and chased and hurried, and put the ball into the box.

“For 10 or 12 minutes at the start we did exactly the same as what they did and did it as well as them. But then we stopped putting the ball in areas that would have given them problems.

“Then we gave ourselves problems by allowing them to get on the front foot through the indecision of not putting the ball into areas that would have caused them problems.”

Curle continued: “It is a very simple game and when you don’t do the simple things well you haven’t got a platform and a foundation to build on.

“You have got to do the simple things to continue your progression. So it is back to basics.

“We don’t look like scoring goals because we are not putting the ball in areas or retaining possession in the final third. We haven’t got the quality and we are not getting in there with the quality to maintain compression.

“We are not getting into the right areas consistently for long enough. We are trying to force play in wrong areas and at the minute we are getting punished for it. We need to get back to basics and play the game in the right areas at the right time.

“We said at half-time we needed to play the game in behind their back four. In the first 10 minutes of the second half we had four opportunities to do so and didn’t do it.”