Goalscorer Andy Barcham admits Scunthorpe United need to learn how to see games out if they are to break their dismal run of form.

The Iron winger gave his side the lead against Carlisle United on Saturday.

But two second half goals from the visitors, including a winner in the 91st minute, left United 'devastated' and just one place above the drop zone.

"A 1-0 lead is fine, but 1-0's never enough in this league. We needed to go on and get two, maybe three," said a visibly distraught Barcham. "We didn't do that.

"Even when it was 1-1 we still created chances but we didn't finish.

"We got the early goal, which we hoped was going to settle us down so we could push on from there.

"But we seemed to go on the back foot and obviously when you do that teams are going to come at you.

"We rode our luck at times in the first half with the chances they created.

"At half-time you think to yourselves, it's going to be our day because of the chances they've missed.

"We came out for the second half and tried to get that second goal. Perhaps we've gone too gung-ho and got caught on the break twice.

"It's heartbreaking because we put in a battling performance and thought we could have rightly got the three points.

"It's never nice to lose, but especially not like that – first of all going a goal up, and then conceding the goals right at the end. It's not nice.

"When you're going through the game thinking, 'this is going to be the day when we turn it round and get the three points to push on', then to come off the pitch not even taking a point, it's devastating."

Barcham says all talk of having turned a corner, as happened after an encouraging performance against Notts County, must now stop until the Iron have put a string of results together.

He accepts Saturday was a great chance to have done that, having had two weeks to prepare for Carlisle's visit.

"We worked hard on the training pitch these last couple of weeks and tried to use not having a game to our advantage," Barcham said.

"We worked hard on their formation and how they play, so we knew what to expect.

"We made the perfect start so I thought the hard work was going to pay off and it looked like we were heading in the right direction.

"But again, it hasn't, it's not to be and it's so disappointing.

"It looked like we were going to get those three points we so desperately need, and then to come away with nothing at all is just disappointing.

"We'll try to take the positives from the game - the chances we created in the second half when it was one-all.

"But until we get that run of a few games when we're not losing and we're putting in good performances and getting the three points consistently, that's when you start to look like you've turned the corner and you can push on."