DEFEAT against any side is disappointing, and it was no different on Sunday when we lost 4-2 at home to Nationwide League Division Three promotion-chasers Cardiff.

But, if you just take away that element of disappointment for a moment, it showed we are not a million miles away from being as good as the Cardiffs of this world.

And just think how much they have splashed out this season to make sure they are up there among the division's front-runners so, in terms of being big spenders, they are a long, long way ahead of anybody else in this league.

But, in all honesty, I wouldn't have thought that they were that far ahead on ability when you compare them to ourselves.

They have brought in some excellent players and so have we, but we've done it differently.

A lot of our players have come on free transfers, people like Neil Mackenzie, and they are not far away from the big-money Cardiff players.

Losing to the Bluebirds on Sunday, though, means that we have lost at home to all three of the top teams -- Chesterfield, Cardiff and Brighton -- and that's disappointing to me.

I would just have liked us to have beaten one of them because I believe that would have given everybody a lift.

But we'll just have to be realistic and realise that, at the moment, we are just slightly behind the better teams.

On Sunday, for instance, it showed again that we don't have a problem between the two penalty areas.

But in the penalty areas, where it matters at both ends, we are not quite as ruthless as some of the other teams are.

In terms of what Drewe Broughton does we can't ask him to do any more. But we do have other chances and we are asking somebody else to chip in with a goal from time to time.

The players were disappointed on Sunday, but I can't have a go at them. They gave everything.

They worked as hard as they possibly can which is not a problem to them because they are young and fit. It's just that Cardiff have got better players in a number of positions with more experience and physically they are stronger.

I've no doubt that they will be promoted. There's a number of reasons for that and the biggest is the fact that they score goals.

They've got 69 now which compares to our 35. That is a massive factor, but they do concede. They went to Macclesfield and won 5-2 and now they've come to us and won 4-2.

Another big factor is set-pieces. They create a lot of chances from them and even when you are not playing well you will score from those.

We always felt it was going to be difficult to keep our little run going after 2-1 home wins over Barnet and Southend and a goalless draw at Leyton Orient, but I thought we might just have deserved to have come out of Sunday's game with it still being intact.

But it was not to be and we now have to prepare for Saturday's trip to Blackpool.

I don't think the Cardiff result will knock our confidence and we've got to get ready for Blackpool as they are the best team we have played against this season.

So that will be another interesting game and one for us to get our teeth into, particularly bearing in mind what they did to us when they came to Aggborough in September and thumped us 4-1 in front of the live television cameras.

It goes without saying that it would be nice to get just a little bit of revenge!