Stanley striker's Paul Mullin's weekly column

THE bus on the way home from Hereford was one of the quietest I've known in my time at the club.

We'd let ourselves down, and we knew it.

Mike Flynn's sending off was obviously the turning point, but even before that we hadn't really got going, just like in the initial tie at home on Saturday.

I thought Flynny was unlucky to be honest because it looked like Robbie Williams was covering. Plus I didn't think their lad was going to get to the ball anyway - certainly not before Paul Crichton - so it was a yellow card at worst in my book.

That decision went against us and it was an uphill battle after that. But we didn't help ourselves because we didn't pass well and chances, again, were at a premium.

But dwelling on it isn't going to do us any good whatsoever.

We can't forget our mistakes because they are what we need to learn from, but we can't get dragged into feeling sorry for ourselves because that won't do us any good on, or off, the pitch.

We've had two bad performances, but the only bonus is that they've not been in the league.

A cup run would have been nice but, while it's no excuse for getting knocked out, our priority has to be the play-offs now.

The only thing we can do is try to put the Hereford defeat behind us when we go to Tamworth on Saturday and rediscover our form from the last three or four league games we played because we would prefer the points to cup progress.

The Lamb Ground can be a hostile place because their supporters are very close to the pitch, and it was a little bit ill tempered there last season.

I imagine it will be more of a physical game than the ones we've had against Hereford - probably similar, perhaps, to the Gravesend game, so we've got to match them for strength.

Our home game against Tamworth was one of our worst performances of the season, so hopefully we'll be the 'harder to beat Stanley' this weekend.

We've got the get back to basics, keep clean sheets and take our chances when the arise.