Ryan Smith declared yesterday’s 4-0 reserve team thumping by Reading as “just not good enough”.

The winger was one of the few players to escape from the game with any credit and earned praise from boss Mark Wotte who was watching on from the sidelines.

Smith has had to make do with a place in the second string of late but has been frustrated at the way performances have been going.

He said: “It was disappointing and personally I think things haven’t been going our way lately in the reserves.

“It’s nothing to do with Dean or the tactics though, I want to make that clear. It’s been our performances which just haven’t been up to scratch.

“People have got to look at themselves, myself included, after results like this and see what we can do, because for a club like this it is just not good enough.

“I’m disappointed with the way we lost the game, you need fighting spirit, but we didn’t even have that.

“I’ve got a more experience than some of the other lads who were out there so I know to just carry on.

“I try to encourage but at the end of the day I can’t motivate someone, they need to motivate themselves to play football.

“I don’t know if confidence is at a low because we’ve been losing a lot lately but I just try to do my best all the time.

“I never want to disappoint in any game and I want to do well all the time. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want to do that but this was an important game to win.

“It didn’t go that way but the only thing we can do now is pick ourselves up and bounce back in the right way.”

Smith is hoping his display will give him a chance of breaking back into the first team reckoning for the final seven games of the season and is hoping to follow this up with another good display for the reserves when they take on Gillingham on Monday night.

“The plan for me is just to keep putting in performances at whatever level I play and hopefully the manager will select me soon,” he said.

“There are not a lot of games left, but the first team have got an important run in as well, so hopefully I can get a chance because I haven’t had a game for a while.

“It’s been very frustrating personally. I always set myself high standards and I expect to be there or thereabouts, but I haven’t been recently for whatever reason.

“I’m just going to do what I do best and work hard and see what comes of it, starting Monday.”

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