Flitcroft is now searching for a ruthless edge

Flitcroft’s troops may go into today’s encounter with the Lions on the back of a four-match unbeaten sequence to begin their road to recovery after a wretched start to the Championship campaign, but they remain in the bottom three with just 11 points from 15 games. The Reds chief insists there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Defensive-wise, progress of sorts has seen the Reds tighten up in recent games, with their 0-0 draw with South Yorkshire rivals Doncaster Rovers last time out representing their first clean sheet since April.

But that game still represented a huge missed opportunity, according to Flitcroft, who admits the stalemate left him feeling flat for two or three days afterwards and the most frustrated he has been all season.

The Reds lacked a ruthless edge in the final third against Rovers, with Flitcroft cajoling his side to stay sharp at both ends of the pitch on a consistent basis to generate real momentum in their campaign.

Flitcroft, whose side are still awaiting their first away win of 2013-14, said: “I was as disappointed as I have ever been at this football club after the Doncaster result. We weren’t ruthless enough.

“I will never be happy until we are consistently winning games.

“I have been sick of going into see an opposing manager and him saying we have played well and not won.

“It makes me sick to the stomach to hear that as I love winning football matches, training games and anything I do.

“No-one likes losing matches and I am the world’s worst.

“Away from home, it’s been key moments that have affected us.

“Every coach in the world is looking for consistency and it’s something you go to bed dreaming about and working for every day.

“I love clean sheets, but we have not had enough. Sometimes, when you put so much energy into one aspect (clean sheets), you lose the other (scoring goals).

“It’s a balancing act. It’s something we are putting a lot of time and effort into.

“We, as coaches, think we know what we need to do to put things right and gain that quality and score goals.

“Certainly, your quality aspects and details of defending have got to be right as well.

“These group of players put a lot of work and energy into what they do in the week and with the new players coming into the club in the last few weeks, there’s been a good feel to the squad and now we just need to get some wins consistently.”