GUDNI Bergsson put Wanderers' priorities into perspective today when he placed Premiership points ahead of knockout glory and revenge.

Tomorrow night's Worthington Cup Quarter-final at Spurs was almost relegated to a side issue as the Reebok captain spoke of the determination to bounce back from successive league defeats.

"We have to regroup," he said after Saturday's defeat at Derby. "There's an important game against Charlton on Saturday ..."

Reminded of the cup tie against his former club - eight days after the bodyblow of losing there in the Premiership, Bergsson explained: "We are concentrating on the league. Of course we want to do well in the League Cup ... then we'll turn our thoughts to Saturday and the game against Charlton."

The captain's assessment is both an honest and understandable appreciation of a situation that has become a major concern to Wanderers as they see the points advantage they built up in the early weeks of the season being whittled away.

And there was more honesty as he shouldered his share of the blame for the Pride Park defeat.

While Sam Allardyce bemoaned his side's failure to convert possession into goals, Bergsson confessed: "I'm disappointed because we should have done better defensively."

Wanderers' most consistent performer this season as he was in the previous two, the veteran Icelander says he and his fellow defenders should have prevented Malcolm Christie's 66th minute strike.

"We could have dealt with the ball in when Carbone broke on the left," he explained, "and then, when he got the cross in, myself and Mike (Whitlow) could have dealt with it better. He (Christie) made a good run and was first to the ball but it was a disappointing goal to give away."

Bergsson admitted the Pride Park defeat was a bitter blow but said the pain illustrated his and his team's determination to bounce back.

"It should hurt," he admitted, "because we set our standards high and we always want to meet them. We went to Derby to get a good result but it didn't happen.

"We were disappionted not to have come away with at least a point and I'm disappointed with myself. We've been scoring generally a couple of goals in the away games lately and it would have been nice if we had maintained that but it wasn't to be. We didn't get the luck or the break we needed but life goes on.

"We have to pick ourselves up."