"We're falling at the last hurdle as things stand and that's not acceptable" - Cheltenham Town boss Darrell Clarke after Carlisle United defeat

How do you react to that?

Obviously, I am very disappointed with our performance and with the whole night to be honest with you. We went out with a plan in the first half, to get the ball down and get it to Jordan (Thomas) and Josh (Harrop), look after the ball and get after them. Five or 10 minutes of that and then poor, from then on, in the first half for me, people not taking enough responsibility. At half-time, yet again I am searching for answers and I am not coming up with the right solutions at the minute. The group is lacking a bit of confidence, on the run we've been on, but it's no excuse. As I've said to the players in there, they have to find a level of decision making that enables them to even think about staying at this level. It's a million miles off. I don't mind being honest with you, but I am searching for answers with the group. We've lost a key couple of elements in the group when we work with a 3-5-2 and we got a really good press together. Lloydy (George Lloyd) is playing with a tendon injury, we are carrying one or two bodies and I am searching for answers. It's tough at the minute, but I have to come up with better answers, it's as simple as that. I put it on me, I am the manager. I always thought we'd go on a bad run because of the standard and quality of the group, if that makes sense. But I also have to simplify gameplans to make sure we are a lot better because they are not up to the standard tonight and over the last few weeks to be honest. One or two things are catching up with us, to a certain extent, but we have to put some pride in the shirt. We let our supporters down tonight and we haven't performed over the last few weeks, to give ourselves that platform to try and get out of the bottom four. It's as simple as that. Now it's up to people and myself and I will be leading that line, to stand up and be counted because we want to stay in this division. We are desperate and I am desperate, it takes every minute of my thinking day trying to keep this group up because we've worked so hard to get ourselves in a situation where we can and tonight is a big, big disappointment.

One or two things have been running away from you, what do you mean by that?

We are carrying one or two injuries to key personnel which doesn't help, but I am still taking responsibility and I have to look for solutions. At the minute, I haven't found the right solutions. I will put it on myself to go away, find a gameplan and a team that can perform a hell of a lot better than it did tonight.

You made four changes at half-time - what were you looking for?

We had been miles off it first half, other than the first five or 10 minutes of the game, absolutely miles off. We were working to get the ball to the 10s, we thought we could get at their back three, but players have to take responsibility in deeper areas to be able to get on the ball to create the spaces to then get out 10s on the ball. They weren't there. People didn't take responsibility of what we worked on, which is always a frustration for a manager because everything looked good in the session I did on Monday with the group and then it comes to the game and they are miles off of being able to perform at that level. I look at myself with that, because I ask if I have tried to overcomplicate it. I tried to freshen the group up after a disappointing performance on Saturday, for different reasons. Fez (Will Ferry) is on his last legs, Lloydy has a tear in his tendon and he's putting his body on the line, to be fair to him. We are playing a bit of catch-up at the minute, but we can't feel sorry for ourselves, we have to get on with it. We need a big reaction come Saturday.

Is this the most frustrated you've felt for a while?

Very much so because I, like a lot of people at the football club, have given ourselves a platform to be in a position to be able to stay in the league and we are falling at the last hurdle as things stand, at the minute and that's not acceptable. I have to get better, the group has to get better as well.

But still five games left so it's not over yet

No, I know that, but you can't paper over the cracks of it being a very disappointing night for us. You can't get around that. It was a big game and I didn't feel that performance was coming. The changing room had a good feel and it was a good session on Monday. But for whatever reason, and I have to look at myself, the gameplan didn't come to fruition and we looked a bit desperate in the second half.

The second half started positively, but were you disappointed not to test their goalkeeper?

Very much so. We've got in some situations, but our decision making, when to cross, when to move it to get a better cross, making the right run in the box, we were just off it with all our decision making and it looked desperate at times. It looked like a team lacking confidence so it's up to me to galvanise the group, to try to make it a simplified gameplan that tries to get us the results that we need.

There is no let up in the schedule now, so will you have to push the players carrying knocks to breaking point?

To be fair, they are putting their bodies on the line. Matty Taylor is pushing his hamstring injury, we are hoping he might be involved on Saturday if he gets through the workload this week. Everyone is pushing hard at the football club and we are all desperate to stay in the league, nobody more desperate than my supporters and myself and my players. But with that comes a responsibility to perform better and that's me included and my players. We go away and we have to come back at 3pm on Saturday and lift our supporters. They have been great since I've been at the football club and we have to go and lift them now. It's up to us.