Neil Warnock empathised with the home support after they watched their team’s winless league run extend to nine games.

“You can’t blame the fans for being upset. Like me, they see the goals we concede, they see we had 18 chances to their seven and didn’t score. We’ve had some good opportunities and you have to take them when they come. Then you get one ball over the top and they score. It’s disheartening, but the players have got to stop feeling sorry for themselves and get on with it. If you concede goals like we do, you’re not going to win games.

“The squad is what it is and with the players we have, I’ve got to conjure up some points. It’s difficult because I can’t ever remember having a team that concedes goals like we do. Certain players have got to do better than they are doing, they’ve got to commit more.

“We’re working really hard on the training ground, but you just cannot legislate for the goals we’re conceding. Defenders are there to defend. One long ball can’t be a goal, not at any level.

“You look at the quality we’ve got compared with our opponents, but we still concede stupid goals. People are making wrong decisions at vital times. When you look at the goals we give away, it makes life difficult. I think it’s a good job that I’m here, because the situation needs some experience to try and get something out of the games we have coming up. We need to get more out of what we’ve got.”