Lessons in defeat as progress continues for United manager Adkins

SOMETIMES you learn more about your team in defeat than in victory.

That was the attitude Iron boss Nigel Adkins decided to use in response to his side slipping to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to York City in midweek.

And although he freely admitted the performance wasn't the best from his side, he wasn't overly concerned either.

"It's not failure, it's a lesson, that is what we're looking at all the time," Adkins said.

"It's not about the results, it's about the performance.

"We're trying to put things together and we learned a lot.

"But at times some of the players looked uncomfortable.

"There are lessons that everyone can learn from that as part of their development.

"And that is as a group, not just the youngsters, it's everybody who was on the field of play we're trying to improve.

"It is trying to get ourselves in a position where we concentrate and do the basics well.

"That is basically when things go wrong, when you don't concentrate on doing the basics.

"There were too many occasions when basic errors were being made at York, which in training they've been doing well, but now it's the competitive side of things, some basic errors were made.

"The first half was evenly matched, Jonathan Forte could have scored a couple of goals.

"We tried to give some more game time to some of the players who didn't play on Saturday (against Sheffield Wednesday), some of the younger players as well and it was a tough second half for them.

"York improved in the second half and had more of the possession than we would have liked and because of that they created some opportunities.

"In the end it was a fantastic strike from (Richard) Brodie in the final minute of the game.

"So all in all it was a good lesson for some of the younger players, certainly a good lesson for ourselves, seeing if the players can step up to the mark."

Adkins again deployed Andrew Wright in the holding midfield role as he has done throughout pre-season – rather than as a full-back where he has mainly played in his two years at the club.

And it would seem that Wright's combative style has convinced Adkins to put him in direct competition with Josh Wright for the role this season.

"We've used him (Wright) in several positions since he has been at the football club," Adkins said of the former Liverpool trainee.

"When we got to the final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy he played outstanding against Rotherham (in the semi-final) in that holding midfield role.

"Again we are looking at trying to nullify the amount of goals we conceded last season, we have to bring that down, and I think the holding midfield role is an important one.

"Josh Wright does that ever so well for us but obviously we are looking at the squad that we have got and it's not going to be the biggest squad.

"But we have got to make sure that we have got cover in all positions in our endeavour to keep improving as a team and as a football club."