AFTER a very tough few weeks there is no let up for us today with a trip to Burton Albion.

I said close to the start of the season that any side finishing above Burton, Shrewsbury or Luton would be well in with an automatic promotion shout and I haven’t changed my mind.

Now managed by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Burton have managed to show consistency over the last few months and you can ask for nothing more in League Two.

However, they suffered a first defeat in three months in midweek, 1-0 against Accrington and it is really hard to know if that is a blessing or a curse for us.

It’s totally dependent on your perspective, I guess. A cynical fan will say that they will be more focused and keen to get back on another winning run, while an optimistic supporter might suggest that Burton’s confidence will have taken a knock.

What we can say though, is there will be a little bit more pressure on Burton now, they will be expecting to get back to winning ways their supporters haven’t really been used to back-to-back defeats this season, which has to be our aim.

It’s impossible to say who is right or wrong, the optimists or the pessimists, but we really should be focusing on ourselves and improving after a very disappointing performance.

I am not going to beat around the bush, we were poor against Morecambe who we just can’t seem to beat and it was as disappointing for us as it was for you, especially since we had something ridiculous like 30 crosses into their box and only managed one shot on goal.

That is unacceptable and we know that it isn’t good enough to lose at home in a game where we really needed to win to build on our unexpected success at Wycombe.

We have good strikers at this club and hopefully, with some better fortune and some clean health for Aaron O’Connor, they can get firing again.

It’s not going to take an awful lot to get one or more of ours firing again and that’ll make all the difference, you saw that from the fact that Morecambe striker Jack Redshaw won the game on Saturday by fashioning something out of nothing.

That’s what we need and no-one in our dressing room is apportioning blame or pointing fingers, we know we need to be more clinical and more ruthless and that extends to every outfield player.

However, all is not lost and we are still in a strong position in a division where we see weekly that anyone can and will beat anyone.

Three or four good results on the spin would put us right back into contention and we have to have that belief, because even if we have overachieved, we are still right in the shake-up.

One thing I do have to say though, and I know this might not be a popular view, but I was sad to hear some of our fans turning on Rene Howe in particular on Saturday.

Of course, no one from the fans knew about Rene’s family issues on Saturday, but there are simple football reasons for not getting on the players’ backs.

Really it is as simple as this, players NEVER perform better when their own supporters are getting on their backs, and there is never a time where that is inspiring or helpful.

We’ve got superb fans that stick with us through thick and thin and having that support makes all the difference to us as players.

As ever it has been an interesting week for the club off the field with several announcements that we the players found out about when you the fans did.

Firstly the fact that Jimmy is staying until the end of the season, something I’ve explained is exactly what the players wanted to happen.

Everyone at the club is fully behind Jimmy and it would be great if he can make his own name as a number one and get us back into those playoff positions.

We are also pleased to have agreed a deal to keep Miles Storey until the end of the season.

It’s early days for Miles who is a young player, but he looks like the sort who can potentially make something out of nothing and that is the kind of player we need at the moment.

I would also like to give Nathan Blake a mention after he joined the club as a non-executive director.

I’ve known Nathan nearly all my life, we had similar back stories in terms of leaving Newport to be professional footballers and Nathan had a great career and was a good servant for Wales.

I can’t see how his appointment, bearing in mind his reputation and his contacts in the game, can be viewed as anything other than a good thing.

He’ll provide a football voice in the boardroom and every club needs that.