Manager Joe Conneely admitted his Hinckley AFC side “didn’t lay a glove” on Droitwich Spa in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat.
AFC lost an away league game for the first time in four months as a goal in each half gave the home side the win.
But Conneely was most disappointed in the manner of the defeat, in which Hinckley rarely looked like the league’s leading scorers.
He said: “We were poor, and we’ve got a couple of injuries, so it was a bad day all around.
“They (Droitwich) are decent, the pitch is poor and doesn’t help but we’ve got to play 20 games a season away from home so it’s never going to be perfect.
“We had a ten minute spell in the second half where we got in behind but apart from that we deserved nothing from the game and the best team won.”
He says his side are conceding too many “nothing” goals, and wants teams to work as hard to score against Hinckley as his side have to do to score.
“The first goal was from a nothing free kick. The second was a nothing ball over the top.
“When we score, we score good goals with nice moves because we have to. We just gift teams goals against us.
“They created a couple of chances but nothing really clear cut to warrant winning. But when you defend as well as they have, they headed it well and kicked it well, won every first ball. When you do that you deserve to win a game.
“This time of year is a character test for teams. We’ve failed today, come unstuck against a team who have got a great record at home.
“We’ve lost eight games in the league which is a bad return, and we’ve got to do more between us and take accountability to become harder to beat.”
AFC were missing leading scorer Chandler Pegg through an ankle knock, while Lewis Collins played despite a stomach bug hindering him.
Conneely says he should be ready for the trip to Haughmond in a fortnight, but he won’t rush the forward back to fitness, while he is also looking to add “one or two” more players to a squad low on numbers.
He also thinks having a two-week break after a defeat is a bad thing, although he can see the benefits in a week off given the limited numbers in his squad.
“When you win it’s ok, you want to keep the run going, but it’s a bad thing that we’ve lost and have to dwell on that.
“But it might not be the worst thing to get through niggles and injuries, and to get a couple of bodies in.”
