Bristol Rovers manager Inigo Calderon led crisis talks after his side slipped into the League One relegation zone after a 2-1 defeat by Exeter at the Memorial Stadium.
First-half Exeter goals from Caleb Watts and Reece Cole put the visitors on course for victory before Ruel Sotiriou’s classy second-half finish provided false hope.
Calderon revealed he held a dressing room inquest with players and staff following a sixth straight defeat which left the Gas in the bottom four for the first time this season.
The Spaniard said: “It is true that we had a good chat with everyone, all the staff and players.
“We probably needed that everyone realises it now but at this moment we are a League Two club.
“So it was good to have this chat to say to face-to-face and be a man in front of everyone.
“That is because we have to be strong enough to get out of this situation and so it’s not about complaining or about bad luck.
“It was not about shouting, I’m not that kind of guy because that doesn’t help. But we have to realise we are defending a club and a lot of people behind this club.
“We are letting them down and hopefully it will be a turning point.”
Calderon described the day as “the most difficult day since I came here” when he succeeded the sacked Matt Taylor on Boxing Day.
He added: “We did everything right in the training ground and I had a great feeling before the game.
“But then the first goal killed us because you have to chase the game and everything gets more complicated.
“It was a strange game because we needed a high tempo but we weren’t as quick as we should have been.
“We are not in the right place mentally. We have to be stronger in those situations when we concede. We have to do things better.”
Exeter manager Gary Caldwell expressed disappointment the margin of victory was not greater
“It should have been 3-1,” Caldwell said. “We had brilliant chances in the second half on the counter attack.
“I just said to the players, we made poor technical actions, poor decision-making and if that had been better the game should have been finished sooner rather than later.
“We were devastating in the first half in our attacking play. We could have played through them more but we went long too often.
“When we went back to our traditional set-up of three at the back, any time we passed it and created a free player we destroyed them but we didn’t do it enough.
“We should have scored the third before they got a goal and then when they did score it was always going to be backs against the wall. But this team has proved since January, time and time again, that when we’re put under pressure we can defend our box incredibly well.”
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