However, the City boss failed to say exactly where he went wrong after watching his side suffer their 3rd straight defeat - and 13th in 16 games.
The Blues looked on course when Georgios Samaras gave us the lead just before the break.
And despite the home side managing to come back for a shock 2-1 win, Pearce believes his players should not take the blame.
"The first person that takes the flak is Stuart Pearce, that's always been the way with me," he said. "I'm the one who should take the criticism, not the players. They gave me everything but we have to work harder on the training pitch and that starts again on Thursday (today).
"I believe I work fairly hard at the moment, but I'm going to have to work harder and instil some confidence in the players."
Pearce insists City did not take the League One outfit lightly and despite the defeat putting him under further pressure, he is prepared for the challenge of trying to turn things around.
"We came here prepared for this game but we have not won so the manager has to take the stick for that. I will, there's no problem there," he added
"I'm bitterly disappointed that we did not win because once we got our noses in front we should have gone on and won the game.
"I've got a perception in my own mind that I am big enough to take anything that comes my way. You have to, that's the nature of professional football. You are only as good as your last result and it was not good enough."