MICHAEL Smith believes the Town squad’s close-knit environment means they are not afraid to call out each other’s mistakes.

In the wake of Tuesday’s defeat, where Town conceded two goal from corners, boss Mark Cooper said it comes down to individual errors when the opposition score from set-pieces.

When individual mistakes adversely affect the scoreline, it can be hard for a team to turn on the errants, in Tuesday’s case Jack Stephens and Jordan Turnbull.

However Smith believes because of the bond between his teammates they know criticism does not come out of spite but from a desire to improve.

“We’re a close knit group, we’re of similar age and we are friends off the pitch so that helps us,” said the Geordie striker “Whether that’s half-time, full-time, or on Thursday when we go through the DVD, no one is afraid to say anything that might upset each other because we’re all good mates off the pitch.”

The defeat to Rochdale ended a nine-match unbeaten run, which had caused a few ripples around the division, as Town were not predicted to be a force in League One this season.

Knowing the quality of the players he plays with, Smith has not been surprised by the good start made by the Robins, considering it par for the course.

“The lads know (Tuesday’s performance) wasn’t good enough because the standards are that high. The lads were sitting in the changing room feeling down about the result. We’ll pick ourselves up and look forward to Saturday.

“I don’t think we’ve overachieved at all. If you look at what we’ve got in the changing room, we were expected to go on a run like that and obviously it’s a bit of low blow (Tuesday’s defeat).We’ll get better and get another run going again.”