Tranmere Rovers manager Micky Mellon was disappointed with his side’s 3-0 defeat away at Oxford United on Saturday afternoon.
Rovers slipped to a loss at the Kassam Stadium courtesy of two James Henry penalties as well as Cameron Brannagan’s deflected strike.
And Scotsman Mellon says TRFC need to reach the “tempo” required to compete at Sky Bet League One level.
The boss was also frustrated at referee Robert Lewis’ decision to award penalties to Karl Robinson’s hosts.
Mellon said: “We are disappointed. We know that we are a learning team, we keep speaking about the tempo that you have got to continue to work at and you have to see that change in tempo, and probably today we never saw that.
“Up until the penalty there was nothing really in it and then after half-time, we tried to inject some kind of intensity which was needed then we became disjointed and we lost our shape and weren’t organised.
“We couldn’t really get that spark and it spiralled from there.
“The penalty was a turning point in a game which was nothing really. It was a big turning point and my group are really disappointed but the referee has changed the course of the game but you have to get over that and put that behind you and try and move on.
“It was a bit of a drab game and there was nothing much to shout about, and the referee’s decision has changed that.
“We need to work on the things we speak about every day, we need to be much better at taking responsibility.
“We have to say, and we have to acknowledge that we have to be disappointed at how things are, we know what we are good at but it never came out with that spark today.
“It is a continual development and we needed to accept that as a group, it’s a development and learning thing and we have to take responsibility and move on.”
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