King's Lynn 2-0 FC Halifax Town: "To be outworked by a team, I find it very hard to defend that," says Wild

After Matty Warburton missed a first-half penalty, second-half goals from Josh Barrett and ex-Town striker Gold Omotayo made it back-to-back defeats for Halifax.

"The first goal was offside and the second one's a foul, but in terms of application, attitude and effort, they had far better spells of it for more sustained periods, that's why they won the football match," said Wild.

"I think some of them felt like they were going to come here and it was just going to happen for them, and it hasn't happened for them.

"I honestly believe that we have to play better than that.

"I will always try and defend my players if they give us effort but to be outworked by a team, I find it very hard to defend that."

Wild added: "It's only a bump in the road, I get that, but it's important that these bumps in the road are not often, and it's important that we keep going.

"So we need to get back on it again next week."

Wild admitted the defeat was hard to take due to his side being outfought.

"I don't think it was tactical, I just thought they wanted it more than us, which as a manager is probably the hardest thing you can say, and the worst thing you can say to your players," Wild said.

Asked if the result would have been different had Warburton scored from the spot, Wild said: "Probably, yeah.

"I don't agree with both goals but I still think over the course of the game they deserved it in terms of attitude and effort."

The Shaymen were particularly disappointing in the second-half, failing to produce any clear chances after falling behind.

"I told them to be patient, the time will come, but it hasn't come, which is frustrating," Wild said.

But the Town boss says now is not the time for a complete rethink.

"The worst thing you can do at this time of the season is rip your plan up," he said.

"We still have faith in our plan, we're going to lose games across the season.

"We didn't envisage losing here, but we have, that's football.

"What I have to do now is make sure that the right things are done on the training ground, and make sure the players are back fully attuned and that we drive forward.

"Which we will do, we'll be fine. This has happened before, and I'd encourage the fans to stick with us.

"We've had lots of good times this year, you've got to stick with us when there's bumps in the road and I'd encourage them to do that."

One positive for Town was striker Gerry McDonagh, who was their best player in what was his first start.

"He deserved a start so I put him in and he did well, he's shown glimpses, we've just got to see if we can get that for 90 minutes," Wild said.

On new loan signing Pierce Bird, from King's Lynn, Wild said: "It's the only position on the pitch we don't have two players for, left-sided centre-half.

"He's a young player that I've been watching for a while, he had a really good season last year at Eastleigh.

"One thing we're not bad at is producing young centre-halves. I felt he could add to us and give us cover."

Asked if the signing was with a view to next season, Wild said: "Maybe, let's see how he does and take a closer look at him."

And on striker Matty Stenson's loan move to Kidderminster, Wild said: "He was down the pecking order so there comes a point where you have to be fair to the lad and get him some games.

"He's got a 28-day recall in there so if I feel he's doing well we can bring him back, but I just didn't see a way he was going to get in the team at the moment, so I had to be fair to the lad, with his contract being up in the summer as well."