Never again

Photo: PICTURE by ALAN HOWARTH.

David Dunn: disappointed as his side slips to defeat against Scunthorpe.

TASTING defeat for the first time as a manager, David Dunn is determined that Athletic’s disappointment against Scunthorpe can be regarded as a one-off.

A run of four straight draws under the club’s new permanent boss came crashing to an end at SportsDirect.com Park, as Mark Robins’ side picked up a 4-2 victory — despite being 2-1 down midway through the first half.

The result sees Athletic drop into the relegation places in Sky Bet League One, with one win all season representing the joint-worst such record in the Football League.

However, with eight draws also on the board, only leaders Walsall, Gillingham and Bury have suffered fewer than Athletic’s three defeats to date.

And with a squad at his disposal that welcomes back Cameron Dummigan, Jay Fulton and Simonas Stankevicius from international duty, Dunn has plenty of selection options for the home test against Sheffield United on Saturday.

“This is the first little blip since I have been in charge,” Dunn said.

“The progression has been very good so far and it is important we don’t get too downbeat about it and keep doing what has worked for us in the last few weeks.

“You are going to get performances in a season which aren’t good enough and it is up to us to react and bounce back, be accountable for it and hold up our hands.

“There are players in the dressing room who I am sure will be very disappointed with their own performance.

“The job I have to do is pick 11 players next week who will react and hopefully do well.

“The individual errors have been a little bit disappointing, to concede seven goals in two games — though at times, our attacking play was okay again.

“We have gone from being really solid, to scoring more goals but leaving the back door open a little bit too much.

“We have got to stand up and be counted and go again. It is very early in the season.

“We got a point at Port Vale where we weren’t great and got out of jail, and then went to Gillingham where we were outstanding and did really well.

“Then you have that this week. It is the mentality, I am sure, and that is what we have to work on.

“I don’t want to say we gave up, because we didn’t. But when you are chasing a game you leave yourself open.

“We have to be more disciplined and in the first half, too many of us didn’t do our jobs properly.”

Dunn wwent on as a 76th-minute substitute to help Athletic to try to level the game again, but says he will now consider if it was the right thing to do.

He added: “In hindsight, should I have gone for something else? I don’t know. There are many things to look at and that is what we will be doing.”