Here’s my column from last week’s Leader. It forms part of the paper’s comprehensive pre-match coverage every Friday, featuring interviews, an in-depth look at the opposition and lots of statistical analysis. All content in the column (c) www.leaderlive.co.uk.

I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to suggest that things went a bit wrong on Saturday. However, there’s nothing more reassuring than seeing that after a disaster there’s no panic from the man in charge.

As ever, Andy Morrell spoke a lot of good sense after the Lincoln defeat. He bravely admitted that he’d made mistakes with his team selection, drawing criticism away from his players. That’s the sort of diversionary tactic which players appreciate.

As for what was wrong with his team selection, I have my opinion, but I’m keeping it to myself. Hindsight is a fine thing, and although I could see things which I felt weren’t working, I’m not going to pretend that I would have selected a substantially different starting eleven myself before the game.

A more important reason to keep my counsel, though, is that the match didn’t really tell us all that much. It was a freak occurrence: players who performed in fourteen previous games didn’t suddenly become bad. They just had an off day.

Anyway, it’s not as if this is a result that had been on the cards for a while. Quite the opposite in fact: although our back four has had more enforced changes than an incontinent underwear model we’ve looked consistently solid, had only conceded more than one goal in a game twice this season before last week, and despite the four goals we conceded, still have the second best defensive record in the division.

So don’t panic. It’s only one game, and no matter how badly you lose, it only costs you three points. Andy Morrell is right in something else he said on Saturday: the side that wins the title will be the most consistent one as this season is going to be a great deal different from the previous two. There’s no moneybags side to buy the title this time, although Newport County and Forest Green Rovers have shown tendencies in that direction.

In this much more even division, consistency is key, and we look at least as constant as anyone else: I should point out here that we’ve beaten both Newport and Forest Green already.

Anyway, it’s not as if a bad day inevitably sets you irrevocably back. In each of our last two promotion seasons we suffered much worse starts and heavier beatings before getting into our stride. In 1992-3 we lost 6-1 to Crewe, and in 2002-3 we were walloped 5-2 at home by a Rochdale side fuelled by a Lee McEvilly hungry for goals.

And don’t forget that two seasons ago we collapsed to our worst ever defeat at The Racecourse, losing 7-2 to Gateshead, but still got to the play-offs by virtue of finishing fourth.

One bad result doesn’t matter; it’s how you bounce back that counts. Morrell also wished for a midweek game after Saturday’s defeat, a chance to immediately make amends for what happened. Having been protected by their manager, let’s see if his side can repay him tomorrow.