Chris Hackett says that the Oxford United players were devastated by their performance against Kidderminster on Tuesday.
But the speedy winger, the only bright spot of an otherwise abject United display, says that their saving grace could be the local derby against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.
Hackett admitted that nobody could explain their poor performance, and the most frustrating thing of all, was that they started the game so well.
"If anybody had offered us the start we had, we would have taken it," he said.
"We made such a positive start, and probably should have been two or three goals ahead inside the opening period.
"But we didn't take our chances, and then gave them a sloppy goal that knocked us backwards.
"Until we stop making mistakes and giving teams easy goals, we are going to struggle.
"The only good thing is that we play Wycombe quickly and we have a chance to put everything right and hopefully put this result behind us.
"It's horrible when you have a week or so to wait until your next match, so we need to set our stall out against Wycombe and get a result."
Hackett says that the spirit in the United camp has remained good, and despite the loss, the squad is determined to hit back.
"We have bounced back before, and we know we can do it again," he said.
"It is probably been the first time we have been expected to win under the new manager, so there was a bit more pressure on us and I think that is why everybody is so disappointed about the result.
"We have dug in really well to get draws in the two away games before, so it just makes it harder to take when we don't deliver in front of our home fans.
"But we can hopefully put everything right against Wycombe on Saturday.
"The most important thing is that we get off to another good start and hopefully take our chances."
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