Preston North End have a lot of work ahead of them to put things right, says new head coach Graham Alexander.
The Lilywhites were thrashed 4-0 at Birmingham in the Championship on Tuesday night and had midfielder Stan Mills sent off.
"It was an extremely difficult night," said Alexander. "I thought we started the game well with some good attacking moments.
"We concede a goal but I was reasonably content going in at half-time at 1-0 thinking we've got a right chance in the second-half but then we implode two minutes before half-time with the two goals."
Preston are bottom of the Championship with only one win from their opening nine games and have managed just one point from their past five matches with Alexander replacing Paul Heckingbottom as boss at the end of last month.
"None of them quit, we weren't good enough to get back into the game but 10 men makes it extremely difficult," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"But whatever we're feeling, in the second-half with that defiance to compete we now have to show it every single minute of every game and every day in training and I don't think we have been.
"We know there's so much to improve, so much to work on and no-one has got a magic wand so we have to work."
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