CHIPPENHAM Town boss Mark Collier gave a scathing review of his team’s performance in their 2-1 loss away at East Thurrock United on Saturday.

After making the 150-mile trip to the Essex coast, Collier said his players looked like they were already in shorts and sandals throughout the match and were ‘reminded of their responsibilities’ afterwards.

After a goalless first half had concluded, Sam Higgins scored twice midway through the second to give the home side all three points – Karnell Chambers scored with four minutes to play to give the Bluebirds something to shout about, but it was too little too late, and their winless run continues.

Collier did not hold back in his post-match interview and told the players, in no uncertain terms, that it cannot happen again.

He said: “We got exactly what we deserved, which was absolutely nothing.

“Poor performance by us – eight or nine players have underperformed by any level we expect.

“We had an opposition who were fighting for every ball and scrapping for everything on the pitch, which we’ve always done, but today we didn’t do that.

“We looked as though we were on the beach with one team fighting for three points and one team booking flight tickets.

“We got what we deserved, no excuses, inept performance, not good enough all around and I’m very disappointed.

“The players have been reminded of their responsibilities after the game.”

The result means Chippenham are now winless in their last five matches – their most recent victory came away at Weston-super-Mare on February 23.

The Bluebirds are still clinging on to a place in the top-half though, despite their recent drop in form, and with Greg Tindle back, Collier is hoping his side will heed his warning and finish the season strongly.

He said: “I’ve said to the players after the game, ‘I’m not saying you’re not trying because I know that’s not the case.’

“I know they’re trying to win a football match, but there were too many poor decisions on the day, not enough desire and application to go and win individual battles – (East Thurrock) have won all their individual battles all over the pitch.

“The only positives to come out of it were, Greg Tindle coming back and doing a decent job for us.

“That performance wasn’t like us, but today we looked like the end of the season can’t come quickly enough.

“That’s not what we’re about and we’ll try to rectify that as quickly as we possibly can.”