AFTER suffering defeat to Chesterfield in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final, Lee Holmes says he has plenty to console himself with.

The Southampton loanee was an influential figure in the first half and on many occasions it looked as if one of his many crosses from the left was going to lead to the opening goal.

However, it was not to be and, much like the rest of the midfield, the winger was much less effective in the second period, although threatened in a couple of forays.

Ultimately the day was not Town’s, but Holmes says he and his teammates hold the far more valuable knowledge that they are four points clear at the top of League Two with automatic promotion very much on the agenda.

“It’s unfortunate and disappointing that we lost, but Paolo has said that the priority now is the league and we get on with it from Saturday onwards,” said Holmes.

“It’s a great bunch of lads with a great team spirit and we need to all rally round each other and get on with the league, like we always have done for the whole season.

“From my point of view that won’t change.

“There’s disappointment because it’s a cup final and no one wants to lose at Wembley, but the fact of the matter is we’re still top of the league and that’s the aim by the end of the season.

“ It would have been nice to do both (win the double), but now this is over, the priority is the league and we’ll get on with it.

“The future of this club is definitely bright, without question. The direction we’re going in is the right one so it’s a nice place to be.”

Holmes is adamant that despite the loss at Wembley, Town can take positives from the display and use it to help them improve in the future, even though he admitted they could have performed better during selected spells.

“At points in the game, possibly we deserved better,” he said.

“But at the end of the day we lost 2-0 and we lost a cup final, and you can look it and think we should have done better in certain areas.

“It’s obviously disappointing to lose but we take a lot of positives from the game and we will get back on with it.”

Although Town ran the show for the majority of the first 45 minutes - with Holmes’ input a crucial factor in that – the winger said the Robins had no divine right to do the same after the break.

And he acknowledged that Chesterfield’s opening goal, which arrived by the boot of Town’s Oliver Risser, turned matters in the Spireites’ favour.

“It was always going to be like that, it was just a case of what we could do in the second half,” he said.

“The goal we conceded early on knocked the stuffing out of ourselves.”