Michael Flynn column

It’s an honour to be given the skipper’s armband but that made it even more frustrating to lose again.

Being named captain, scoring the goal and getting a win against Wimbledon would have been the perfect day. But nothing is perfect in this life.

Guy and I didn’t have to say anything to each other when the gaffer made his choice. These things happen in football.

It was Peter Jackson’s decision to give Guy the armband and we all got on with it. Now the manager has left Guy out and made me captain.

We are all professionals and whoever the captain is, you still go out on that pitch and give everything.

I only found out just before the team sheet was put up, although I’ve had a couple of meetings with the gaffer. He thinks I’m a leader on the pitch, which is nice to hear.

Unfortunately we didn’t get a foothold in the game after going 1-0 up. Okay, I think Wimbledon only had two shots on target but that’s all they needed.

Steve Parkin hit the nail on the head afterwards. There wasn’t enough positive reaction from us when they equalised. We haven’t been used to taking the lead and didn’t respond well when they came back.

The attacking side for us wasn’t as fluent as in other games but we’ve also got to be harder to score against. We need to be more solid as a unit. That’s not just the defence but the midfield and attackers because we’re all in it together.

We’ve got a lot to learn all over the park. The manager and his assistant are still learning about us and we are learning about each other.

We have to dust ourselves down to go again on Saturday and we’re more than capable of doing that. I know the spirit in the team is good. Nobody’s going into their shell or pointing the finger at other people.

You don’t want people disappearing into little corners to start blaming their team-mates – and I know that won’t happen. We are being too naive at the moment but we aren’t lacking in the honesty department.