Town defender Leif Davis revealed there were some home truths said in the dressing room following the Blues’ 5-3 defeat to Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground.

The topsy-turvy contest saw Town twice come from behind in the first half, before letting a second-half lead slip to fall to their second defeat to Wrexham in just eight days.

Defeat leaves the Blues fourth in the Championship table and eight points adrift of second-placed Middlesbrough, although they do hold two games in hand.

However, the nature of Town’s latest disappointment in North Wales left an angry Davis demanding far more from his side’s performance.

“It’s big character we’ve got to show,” he said. “We did start the second half really well and there were moments in the first half where we looked like a bunch of boys.

“They wanted it more it looked like in the first half, flying into tackles and that’s what we’ve got to be like from the start. It’s not just one certain player on the pitch, it’s everyone on that pitch.

“There’s 11 players on the pitch that have got to do the nasty side of the game and that wasn’t us for the majority of the first half. It was a lot of them sliding and fighting for every ball.

“It looked like they wanted it a lot more on the pitch, which should never be that. For me, the heart in this group should run all over every team and do everything we can to fight against every other team.”

Despite a first Blues goal from Anis Mehmeti and further strikes from Iván Azón and Cédric Kipré, Kieran McKenna’s side conceded five goals outside the top flight for the first time in his tenure.

Davis continued: “We showed good spirit and good character to come back from behind to make it 3-2. In the second half, for the first 10 or 15 minutes, we looked like we had the game in control and were 3-2 up. After that, we’ve got to know when not to push for another goal.

“They were a threat on the counter-attack, which we’ve seen and had a few mistakes which happens in football. It wasn’t good enough in those areas where we had to stand up for things as a team. We didn’t really do that in the second half with conceding the other three goals.

“It’s a learning curve. Since I’ve been here, I don’t think we’ve conceded five, so for me it’s new as well. We’ve got to go on Monday and reset. We’ve got another game on Tuesday so we’ve got to focus on that and do everything we can to get things put right in that game.

“It’s moments of the game where we can’t switch off, this is what we’ve talked about on the training ground.

“This is what it’s going to have to take in games to keep fully focused for these moments in the games and be switched on for the 90-plus minutes that it’s got to take.”

Davis is one of the longest-serving members of the Blues’ squad, and made his 150th start for the club during Saturday’s defeat to Wrexham.

The left-back says that he and Azor Matusiwa were among the first players to give their verdict post-match to teammates in the dressing room, and that there was no shying away in the process.

“I know these boys, we respect each other and can say anything about each other. They’ll take it as good feedback,” he said.

“Azor came off in the changing room and said what he needed to say. Everyone agrees that we’ve got to be a team. To be a team, we’ve got to agree with things as well.

“Whatever people say, you can’t fight against that. It’s intrinsic feedback that we have to do off the pitch. You need to be together as a team and say what’s going wrong on the pitch. If you don’t, you’ll get nowhere.

“That’s what we said in the changing room, they wanted the fight more than us in the first half. In the second half, the manager came in and said there were good moments in the second half where we did look like a threat.

“They’ve got a good record defensively, they don’t concede a lot of goals but to come here and score three goals was a positive. It’s just the clean sheets that we’re needing, we’ve had that good defensive record all year.”

There was plenty of frustration among Town supporters at the direction of travel, with the growing gap to the top two playing a big part in anger among the fanbase.

Admitting those feelings are fair, Davis said: “They’re going to feel like that if we’re conceding goals and not winning a lot. We are in a good position but we should be in a better position with some results that we’ve had. I expect them to be a bit cheesed off.

“One thing I have to say is just stick with us. We’ve got a job to do on that pitch and they do the job off the pitch for us as well to keep us pushing on. We respect everything they do for the club and everything for us. They follow us here, there, and everywhere.

“It’s incredible to play in front of the fans, the best fans I’ve ever been in front of. Travelling hundreds of miles to come and watch us at Wrexham two games in one week is incredible.

“Just keep that hope, that spirit, and I think it will all fall into place for us.”

Photo: TWTD