COUNTY'S battling skipper Michael Raynes was determined to take positives out of Saturday's first away league defeat of the season at Millwall.
After a late strike from substitute David Martin inflicted what was only County's second away league defeat of the whole calendar year, Raynes was disappointed but far from despondent.
His young team-mates had put in a stirring effort amidst the incredibly hostile atmosphere at the Den.
Raynes told the Express: "If you look back, I think Millwall were just about the better side.
"The atmosphere played a part and that affected the referee, but it also affected a few of us a bit. We've got to learn from this defeat though, Millwall is a game we've got to write off now.
"I thought we could have had a penalty in the second half, but one mistake, one stupid free-kick, there's no concentration in the wall, and they've scored the only goal from it. Millwall have got a lot of experienced and good professionals, but we've got to take something out of the game even though we're disappointed.
"We have to take positives out of games like this. It's easy to blame the referee or the wall, but if we're honest we just didn't do enough to win the game. We've had a few chances, but it's about moving onto Tuesday's FA Cup replay now."
Despite Saturday's reverse, almost everyone would undoubtedly agree that County have still had a hugely encouraging start to life in League One though. Raynes unsurprisingly echoes those sentiments.
He added: "Overall, I don't think many people would have expected us to have such a good start to the season.
"We've put ourselves in a brilliant position, but now we have to forget about the defeat at Millwall and move onto the cup game and next Saturday's important league game at Crewe."
Meanwhile, the popular Raynes is also revelling in his new role as club skipper now that Gareth Owen looks odds-on to have played his last game for the Hatters.
Raynes said: "I'm absolutely loving being captain, I'm so proud. Days like Saturday are a bit disappointing, you always wish you could have done a bit more or said a bit more, but there's nothing I can do about Millwall now.
"We'll have to put things right on Tuesday and then on Saturday."
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