I’VE had a number of meetings with my backroom staff this week to try and get to the bottom of our inconsistent form this season.

We’ve analysed everything there is to possibly analyse to try and work out why we had three straight wins and then three successive defeats.

But the losses we’ve had have come in different circumstances against different kind of opposition.

At Chesterfield we maybe paid the price for trying to win the game and not settling for a point.

I thought we played Wycombe off the park without being able to get the ball across the line but, in the second half against Morecambe on Saturday, we were poor.

It was hard to take but, after much contemplation, I think we have to remember there have a lot of changes around the place.

I think eight have signed and 15 have left since the end of last season and when that happens I think there will always be some kind of settling in period.

That’s what we’re going through now and I do think we need to bring in an experienced head.

We have a very young team and I want to sign someone who is a leader and has real character.

We need that kind of voice in the team and I have been making a few calls to bring in someone who fits that mould before tomorrow’s game against Scunthorpe.

It doesn’t necessarily matter who position he plays but I do expect the remaining the slot we have available in our squad to be another centre back.

We’ve made a few tentative enquiries and calls but it seems everyone else out there is also looking for that kind of player.

We also need to make up our minds on Gomez Betsenel, who we’ve played as a trialist in the last couple of behind closed doors friendly we’ve had.

He’s a relation of Mohamed Diame at West Ham so Sam Allardyce asked us to have a look at him.

He’s been playing in Spain and has done well in the matches we’ve had but I’m not sure whether or not we need to bring in another midfield player.

He played well against AFC Wimbledon in the week and we did well to beat them 3-2.

Graham Coughlan was pleased with a number of our young players and does not think it will be long before the likes of Ryan Auger, Jack Edwards, Jason Williams and Josh Banton will be featuring in our first team more often.

GOOD TO HAVE ADAM THOMPSON BACK

ADAM Thompson comes back in to the squad for tomorrow’s game against Scunthorpe and he’s as high as a kite after captaining Northern Ireland’s under 21 team against Belgium.

He played the full 90 minutes up against a £10million rated striker and he felt the 1-0 defeat they suffered was undeserved.

It’s good to see him in good spirits and he’s certainly in my thoughts for tomorrow.

FULL COLUMN IN THURSDAY'S ECHO