THERE is no point in pulling any punches, it has been a bit of a tough week with two defeats on the bounce, especially with both of them coming at home.

I actually thought the two performances were like chalk and cheese.

We maybe didn’t match Bristol Rovers for energy last Saturday, but I thought we more than put that right against Sheffield United.

We’ve watched it back and there wasn’t much to choose between the sides on Tuesday in terms of the work rate or effort.

Even statistically we had more of the ball and more efforts at goal, but unfortunately for us our opponents were just that touch more clinical in both boxes.

Billy Sharp has scored goals at this level and above for a few years now and his double was the difference.

The Blades are top of the table for a reason and will end up winning the league by a mile.

But we pushed them all the way and need to learn from games like that.

One of the great things about this set of players is their eagerness to take on board new ideas and keep improving. Generally in football you learn more from a defeat than a victory.

We are going to have to learn quickly though because we are now chasing a pack that has edged a few points further away from us over the last seven days.

The task remains basically the same, to win eight of our remaining games.

If we do that, then I think we still have an excellent chance of reaching the play-offs.

We just keep going, target the next match and will aim to bounce back quickly today at Peterborough.

They are a very dangerous side who try to play proper football, which is always good to see.

But I am sure they will have seen our away form and be wary of us.

They will also know that we are just one point behind them, with two games in hand so it sets things up nicely for what should be a really good game of football.

WE had a Development game this week down on the 3G pitch at Tilsley Park, Abingdon against the Nike Academy.

For those who don’t know, our opponents offer a chance to youngsters who didn’t get taken on as pros.

Everyone develops at different speeds, and places like the Nike Academy do a great job in helping players get a second chance.

They are always difficult to play against, but I have to applaud the attitude and work rate of the senior players who played for us.

For Sam Long and Christian Ribeiro it was another step on the road to recovery.

But for players like Joe Skarz, Liam Sercombe and Josh Ruffels it was a way of staying sharp.

They were first-class.

Liam and Josh both scored with headers to win the game 2-0, but everyone involved showed a top-drawer attitude, worked hard, and will have benefitted from a very worthwhile exercise.