The Dale gaffer admits that performances need to improve, with midweek providing a chance to bounce back.
“It hurts so much”, says Watson.
“We had to defend a lot more than what we wanted.
“The boys emptied the tank, Harvey blocked two shots on the edge of the box. You can see how much they want it, they’re hurting so much.”
Dale are back at home as we face Shrewsbury Town and Ian wants to see more of those positive glimpses.
“It’s my responsibility to pick them up and make sure we go again for Tuesday. It’s a quick turnaround, we have to be better and it’s as simple as that.
“I think we created some good moments, especially out wide. We have to watch the game back and review it and make sure we’re ready for Tuesday.”
Three changes were made from our defeat to Crawley Town, with attacking width the clear game plan. He also wants the Crown Oil Arena to be an awkward place to come to.
“We want the wingers on the pitch to attack the final third, I felt last week we weren’t able to penetrate as much as we like. I think the changes worked in moments, I thought Zain had some good moments out wide.
“It was good to get Jonny on the pitch and Kane’s first start.
“It’s little things we look at like that’s going to improve us but right now we know we have to improve quickly.
“There can’t be any feeling sorry for ourselves, we’re all in charge of our own mindset. We want to be really aggressive at home and make the opponents feel uncomfortable from the start.
“I think the fans will do that because they’re amazing and then it’s up to us to be there too. We’re really excited for the two home games, we need to make sure that everything we do from now until then is purely focused on the next one.
Transfer Deadline Day is coming up on Tuesday, with a chance to add to the squad being addressed.
“We’re trying to do a couple, we worked late last night trying to maneouvre things. We want to bring a couple in and we’re still active for sure.”
Watch the full post-match interview below via our official YouTube channel.
