Manager Keith Hill is pleased with a “productive week” after his side secured seven points from an available nine, following wins over Walsall and Rotherham United and a draw with Southend United.
“We could have gone to 13 points adrift but we’ve actually cut the margin down to six. It has been a productive week and we’ve got to use it as a platform,” said Hill.
“But what we can’t do is get too high or too low depending on the outcome of the games and results.
“We’re going to lose games between now and the end of the season but we have to make sure that we take our opportunities when we’re playing well, and at this moment in time we’re playing reasonably well.”
After bemoaning missed opportunities in Tuesday night’s goalless draw against the Shrimpers, Hill says he wants his players to be more ruthless.
“We should have scored in the first half and that’s the message for the players. I’ll again be asking them to be more ruthless and to have more of a cutting edge.
“We’ve had 14 clean sheets in the league this season, so if we remain reasonably tight, we’ve got to convert our opportunities. That’s whether you’re a central defender in a goal scoring position, or a right-back or a left-back, because the onus can’t just be on Ian Henderson. It has to be on other players as well, because I’ve never really put the responsibility on one goal scorer, and we’ve always had a team of goal scorers, but we haven’t had that this year.
“That’s the conundrum, because at the start of the season when you put a squad of players together, you look at it and think ‘well, we’ve got all these players who are scoring goals’. After retaining the likes of Callum Camps, Ian Henderson, Steven Davies and Calvin Andrew for example, I was expecting more goals.”
AFC Wimbledon are the visitors to the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday and Hill wants his players to bounce into the match pressure free.
“We can’t draw too much attention or relevance to an individual game when we’ve got 13 to play. It’s the next opponent that we’re playing against and we want to win it because we prepare to win games.
“There can be no pressure – you’ve just got to get on with your work and do what you need to do, and the pressure will take care of itself. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no pressure on these players. Most of the footballing world have already written us off so we’re not fighting anything accept ourselves.”