Bristol Rovers fell to a disappointing 4-0 defeat to Milton Keynes Dons in Sky Bet League Two, but Josh McEachran does not want to dwell on the defeat and instead wants to look forward.
The Pirates were searching for their fourth straight win at The Memorial Stadium in the fourth tier but struggled to get control of the contest at any point. Alfie Kilgour's own goal gave the visitors the lead heading into the break before three second-half goals gave the Dons a comfortable victory.
Laurence Maguire, Alex Gilbey and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy scored in the final stages to help Paul Warne's men to a fourth straight win in all competitions, with Rovers losing for the second time in a row in the league.
McEachran reflected honestly about the defeat to BRTV and was especially disappointed after a positive week of training.
"I'm really disappointed," he said. "I feel like we had a really good week. After the Walsall game—obviously that’s a disappointing result—we had a really good week in training, and then to concede so early put a dampener on it.
"I feel like we didn’t really get going today. To be honest, I never felt like it was a 4-0 defeat. Three set pieces, and they caught us on the counter late on. So obviously I’m gutted. It just feels like a real kick in the teeth, but we’ve got to put that aside. I know it’s so early on, but we’ve got to go back Monday morning and get things right for next week now.
"When you concede early on—and after that we had spells where we were on top—we need more from that and control the game a lot better than we did. It doesn’t feel like a 4-0 defeat, but it is at the end of the day. Monday morning, put things right and move on to Tranmere."
With the game still in the balance heading into the final stages, the visitors doubled their lead through Maguire before then scoring two more quick-fire goals in the final moments. McEachran was unhappy with the way his side fell to defeat and stressed that they must improve.
"I feel like our mentality needs to be better," said the midfielder. "Obviously, they scored quite late on, but when they do go two-nil up, we still need to keep going. It can’t be three, four—we’re not a team like that. We haven’t got that mentality. Hopefully, it won’t happen again, and we can just move on now.
"You can’t dwell on things. There are obviously so many more games to be played, so many more points to play for, so you can’t dwell on anything in this league. You’ve got to put it to bed, look at it Monday morning, analyse what went wrong, and look forward now."
Before losing back-to-back fixtures in Sky Bet League Two, Rovers had been unbeaten in seven outings, winning five of them to push up the table. One result can change a team's fortunes, with McEachran ready to put things right.
"We’re going to lose games this season, we know that," said McEachran. "We went on an unbelievable run, like you said—seven games—but now it’s about putting things right. There has to be a reaction back at The Mem next week now.
"We’re going to be disappointed tonight and tomorrow, but put it behind us Monday, put things right, have a positive week, and look forward to Tranmere.
The Pirates have another fixture at The Mem next weekend, welcoming Tranmere. Playing in front of the Gasheads again, McEachran knows it is a perfect chance for his team to get back on track.
"I feel like the fans are really behind us now," he said. "There’s a big difference from the start of the season to now. I feel like we’ve got them really behind us now, so we’re looking forward to every game, and the fans play a massive part. So hopefully next week they can be the twelfth man again."
