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I'd like to walk away and sulk in private
“Dave Connolly's been on fire in training this week, in fact he's been sharp in the last few weeks, and he scored a great goal for us right at the end.
“We stated slowly and I knew we would be in for a hard day. In terms of getting a result when we don't play well, it was pleasing. We keep giving ourselves mountains to climb but to be fair to the players, we keep climbing them.
“I think I had every emotion today. Fifteen minutes before the end it was anger and frustration, but I'm delighted with the players again. Steve Caldwell made a great tackle when it could have been 3-1. We gambled a bit, made changes and managed to get back in it, it was pleasing. You can never give a game of football up, there are plenty of examples of teams coming back. You keep going until the end.
“I'm sure their manager will be disappointed. We've scored last minute goals and we've conceded them, against Southampton, and it is disappointing when you do. But I think Graham Kavanagh, Liam Miller and Toby Hysen when they came on had an influence on the game.
“As much as people will remember Grant Leadbitter and Dave Connolly for the goals, I'll also remember the two saving tackles Steve Caldwell made. It was great to go on then and score in front of our fans. There were three or four thousand of them there today and it is great for them, it is all about the fans, and the players.”
Steve Cotterill was asked about the late comeback from the visitors after we'd looked to be heading for a win, and put it down to two defensive mistakes. “We did enough to win that game but two lapses of concentration in our final third have cost us,” he said. “The game was going nowhere to be honest and I felt if anyone was going to score we would get another.
“I don't think Danny Coyne had a shot to save before they scored, but when they changed formation, we changed outs to get some fresh legs in there and make sure that didn't happen with Leadbitter. Then late on, we've gone for a header we don't need to go for and we've ended up going gung-ho for a ball we don't need to compete for.
“Being the 80th and the 91st minutes makes it a real sickener, but football has a habit of biting you sometimes and it has bitten us today. We just have to take it and move on to next week's game because there is nothing else we can do.”
Asked about the performance of Irish youngster Kyle Lafferty, who scored both goals, Steve added: “Kyle has played better than that and not scored, but I am sure the two goals will do him the power of good. I am sure he will get plenty of good things written about him, but unfortunately Gifton was out star player today and he didn't get his rewards. I thought he was first class, but once we got the ball into him we didn't run forward enough. We were a little deep across our midfield.
“Overall it is very difficult to look for a good note at the moment because I'd like to walk away and sulk in private.”