Kelvin Davis says Saints must look to the big picture again quickly following the team's early exit from the JPT.
Rochdale visit St. Mary's in League One at the weekend, and that is where all of the club's efforts and concentration must lie at the moment.
"That's the only picture for me right now, let's prepare for that game now and put in a performance that we can be proud of," he said.
"We thought that we would go out and perform better in the cup than we did. We wanted to progress in this cup, but that hasn't happened. The big picture is the league form. We need to get ourselves up the table, into the top six, and then see where we go from there because we know that we've got a team and a squad which is capable of doing it."
A 3-0 home defeat to Swindon Town on Tuesday night was not the way that the team envisaged their start to the week, not least the club captain, who still recalls last season's success in the Trophy so freshly in his mind.
"Disappointment is the word I suppose. The last thing I did before I left the house today was have a look at my medal on the wall and said I want a bit more of that, so yes extremely disappointed.
"We didn't perform on the night, individually and collectively we didn't perform as we should do and against a well organised outfit tonight we were truly outdone.
"We've obviously had a disruptive week, but we were looking to get that behind us tonight and get on with the job in hand which was performing in a Saints shirt, so disappointing to finish on the losing side tonight."
The experienced 'keeper however, couldn't put his finger on why things didn't go the team's way in the first round clash.
"You look at yourself and around the dressing room, and before the game we were very much up for it, but as the game unfolded we looked like a team that wasn't going to win, so we're disappointed.
"We prepared as best we could, but the game maybe came a bit too soon after the departure, so we'll be looking to get ourselves together, getting ourselves mentally focused again to prepare for a home game on Saturday that we expect to win.
"When you're out there in a Saints shirt you've got a duty to perform to your best. You're a professional first and foremost, so you're there to do a professional job.
"I feel sorry for Dean that we put in a performance like that, he doesn't deserve it because he's a good guy and a good coach, so I'm sure that he's as upset as any of us that we've not put a performance in to win the game.
 A dejected Davis watches on after Swindon's third goal |
"I think that the fans were behind us 100 per cent tonight even though we didn't give them much to cheer about, but we still felt that they were fair in their will for us to win. We've said it many times before that the fans are the important ones, they can be our twelfth man as they have been in the past and I'm sure that they will be again."
The interim period until a new manager is in place has now taken hold, and Davis believes that finding the right person for the job takes precedence over the time it takes to bring them in.
"It's important that the right person is appointed to continue what we want to achieve.
"I'm sure there'll be tens and tens of people wanting to manage this football club and I'm sure that any of them that put their name forward will fully understand to the expectation of this club is to move forward."
