Crewe Alexandra’s players will never need to be criticised by supporters for a lack of effort or desire.
That’s according to manager Alex Morris, who said his men were devastated at conceding two late goals in Saturday’s 2-1 reverse at the hands of Mansfield.
The boss admitted his new-look side are behind the Stags in the development curve, but believes there is plenty to build on in terms of spirit and commitment.
“It hurts the players because they are all great lads and they apply themselves properly," he said.
“The supporters will never criticise their effort and desire to win a game of football, I’m sure of that.
“It was disappointing to be pegged back to 1-1 because I genuinely thought we’d see the game out. But that wasn’t a disaster, but 2-1 is a disaster after being in a winning position on 86 minutes."
Morris, who said he does not yet know the extent of Callum Ainley's injury which left his arm in a sling, added: "Mansfield are a better team than us.
"They are further along the line than us, have been in the Play-Offs area for the last few years, and I think they’ll go up automatically this year.
"There’s no point in me denying that they are a better team, and they wore us down in the latter stages.
“At this point, we’ve shown we are better than, or the equal of, any team below us. But when we have played the teams up above us, we have been competitive, but unable to get a win.
“That underlines why we are where we are, 11th in the table.”