Town boss Chris Powell pledged to put the derby disappointment quickly to bed and galvanise his injury-hit squad for the Championship tests ahead.
Powell lost Nahki Wells, Joel Lynch and Tommy Smith to injuries as Town were beaten 2-1 by Leeds United at the John Smith’s Stadium.
It gave Leeds a first league double over Town in 76 years and Powell some food for thought, but he is far from pushing the panic button.
“I want us to progress and really push forward and we’ve been doing that,” said Powell.
“We saw last week (Wigan), this week (against Leeds) and next week (at Millwall) as a barometer for us against sides who are around us in the table and while we haven’t passed this test, we will go again.”
He added: “We are trying to slowly build a team and a squad and trying to get some good players to the football club. We are also trying to build confidence in our younger players and we are on our way to doing that.
“When you get setbacks like this you’ve got to manage them and galvanise (the players) and keep a steady head.
“Our fans will be disappointed and we know that, but I also know we are good enough to be competitive in the Championship – so we push on again.”
Powell felt Town paid a heavy price for a slow start, when Sam Byram gave Leeds the lead, and for failing to defend properly in the build-up to Billy Sharp’s winner in the final minute.
“We just didn’t defend that final cross,” said the boss.
“ It was a good ball in by the lad, but we didn’t defend it and you’ve got to do everything you can to stop those crosses.
“It was the 90th minute and we had to see the game out, take a point and move on with the run. We didn’t and we paid the price.”
Harry Bunn netted for Town and Powell felt they had opportunities to win the match.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose on the balance of play, but that’s what happened,” he said.
“We had good incidents we should have taken advantage of.”
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