Gary Setchell refused to gloss over King's Lynn Town's home defeat to the league leaders.

Skelmersdale United arrived with many expecting them to beat the Linnets. But that still didn't stop Lynn's manager hitting out after watching his troops crash to a deserved 3-0 loss.

'I'm bitterly disappointed with our game management and bitterly disappointed with our desire without the ball,' said Setchell.

'It hurts me to say it but I'm not going to make excuses for them. I had two-and-a-half, three players – like Sam (Mulready) when he came on – put their bodies on the line.

'Against the league leaders at home you need eight to 10 players doing that. (Leon) Mettam worked his socks off and he isn't even our player. David Bridges ran himself into the ground. I'm not talking about with the ball, I'm talking about without it. Trying to make something happen for the team.

'We didn't have enough of it. Too many players, Fancy Dans, not fancying the fight and that really, really disappoints me.'

Setchell had no major complaints about the controversial penalty which was given against Henry Eze, although he admitted it was one he deemed to have belonged to the category defined as soft.

But the honest man at The Walks helm insists he was more concerned about his charges' inept display rather than focusing on referee Josh Smith's seemingly apparent blunder.

'In the main they're an honest bunch but I told a few home truths,' he added.

'One or two of them have got to get fitter for starters because you can't play when you're not fit. One or two have got to get a bit braver. One or two of them have got to improve on their game management.

'Six, seven, eight of them have got to show more desire when the going gets tough. My teams normally do that and on Saturday we didn't. I fancied us to win. But we never earned the right from the minute they scored. Not enough of my players wanted to go in the trenches for us.

'We had players missing, but I'm not going to make excuses. I think I've got a good squad here. But the results recently have told us we're not as good as we think we are. We've got to do some soul searching. Some hard yards on the training ground. We've got to stop talking about top five and get back to basics and picking some results up.'

- Click here to read a match report, and see Matthew Usher's picture gallery, from Saturday's game.