Message of hope from Mick

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

It [the start] could not have been any worse, you can't plan for those kind of events. It was lousy.We are two teams who will find it harder to score goals, because of the nature of the league, we're playing against better players. It doesn't help to give a team that is going to be in opposition to us all season an easy start.The start was the difference betwen the two teams. I thought it [the penalty] was soft. I thought he [Breen] got a bit of the ball.But we should not have put ourselves in that position.It's the way it has run for us over the four games. We have to try to change it over the next four.I'm not going to talk about the performance because it would be similar to Liverpool and Manchester City.All I would say is from the Charlton game onwards I've been proud of the way my players have played and gone about it - their endeaver and effort.I don't think we have got our true reward for the way we have played [over the last three games].We have to believe in what we are doing and keep doing it and see if it turns around for us. The only way it will is if we keep believing.There are some away on international duty now and the rest of us will be in on Monday morning. We'll see the international players a week on Thursday when they come back.Is it a good time for the break? I don't know. We had it last season in the Championship when we had five points from six games and then we came back and had a great run.I'm proud of them individually and collectively - delighted with the effort.I'm not delighted we've got no points, of course I'm not, but we've played well and we've not had our just rewards.

All the best,

Mick McCarthy