We could have gone on a break for a couple of weeks after last Saturday’s Chesterfield defeat but these next two or three weeks are important.

On Wednesday we had to do the horrible stuff which was to release some of the squad. What we need to bring in now are fresh young players and ones who are passionate.

We have already got passion here but we need more and we will leave no stone unturned in our search for new players.

It’s an exciting time for us and myself, the gaffer, Ian Hendon and the chairman are like kids in a sweet shop with all of the players out of contract at the moment. Teams are releasing up to 10 players and we are going to have a good look around and see what we can find.

It’s going to be a big season for some of the players who are already here and have a year left on their deals.

The likes of Simon King, Garry Richards and Danny Jackman, as the whole squad do, need to come in and hit the ground running. We don’t want to start the season like the last one.

It was a tense affair at Chesterfield last Saturday. We thought we would get a point and in the first half we shaded it.

The lads were asking at half-time about other results but we just made sure they were concentrating on our game.

At the start of the second half, we conceded a sloppy goal but after a dodgy four or five-minute spell, the belief came back and Cody McDonald equalised.

We thought we would kick on from then but we let in two more goals through basic defensive mistakes. Defending is about staying with runners, keeping tight and stopping balls coming into the box. We didn’t do that.

It wasn’t just about that game, though. We let ourselves down at home with the four games against Macclesfield, Hereford, Barnet and Morecambe.