Manager Paul Trollope today reflected on Saturday's defeat against Southampton.
Whilst there were concerns over the way the visitors were able to score four goals without reply, Paul was encouraged by the form shown by his front two, Will Hoskins and Jo Kuffour.
"We were pleased with a lot of the work from the front two and when got some decent service in to them, which wasn't very often in the first half, we thought they caused problems.
"Similarly, in the second half, their movement and the timing of it, was decent both from open play and from a few set pieces and we felt that maybe we were worthy of a couple of goals on the day.
"They are showing a good understanding, and I think that Will is getting fitter all the time and getting used to playing week in week out again. Both strikers showed their quality, and speaking to some of the Southampton players and staff afterwards, they were aware of the threat that both of them provided.
"Nevertheless, it was a disappointing afternoon against a very good Southampton side. While we can look at their quality, we can also look at a number of defensive issues that we need to improve on very quickly even though there were certain positives to take in terms of our forward play."
The manager admits that those defensive issues are a concern, but says that there is no need to panic at the moment.
"It is a concern, as we have conceded a number of goals since the opening day defeat at Peterborough. We feel that we brought in defenders who will make us better defensively but, for one reason or another, things haven't gelled yet .
"Good defence is about making good decisions, and it's not quite there at the moment, but we have a couple of new players across the back line who maybe need to find their feet. There's no panic; we need to be calm, and we need to work, and we need to coach and make sure we make use of these free weeks that we have to work on things.
"There's a togetherness about the group but we know that we need to be right, defensively, in order to give ourselves a chance in games. Southampton's first two goals were very poor from our point of view and if we can eradicate those things, and give ourselves a chance to get the first goal, then games can quickly look very different
"We need to make sure that that we keep a clear head and that the players are focussed on the work we need to do."
The manager also explained why John Akinde was unable to make his debut on Saturday.
"It was a very late call. We rushed around to get the paperwork done on Friday, and we were pleased to secure his signature. However we realised, through Friday afternoon, that he had a tight hip flexor following the game he played for Bristol City reserves on Tuesday.
"He trained at City on Friday morning, but suffered a little bit of stiffness and was still feeling the effects of the injury during a fitness test on Saturday lunchtime so rather than risk things we decided to leave him out so that we don't lose him for any length of time and we are hoping to see him back training with us by the middle of this week.
"He can make a big difference to us, as he's a striker with different attributes to what we have in the squad and we've been looking for someone like him for a while now. We did a lot of research on his attitude, and what he can bring to the dressing room and on the pitch, and we think he will be a good acquisition for us."
