King's Lynn Town boss Gary Setchell admits his men are feeling the harsh reality of an Evo-Stik learning curve.

The Division One South champions, now playing in the Premier Division, slumped to their second heavy home defeat in four days last night. And the Linnets boss conceded three seasons of almost non-stop success has finally hit the buffers.

Speaking after his side's 4-0 loss to Matlock Town at The Walks, Setchell said: 'We've had it all our own way for three years. Going into the fourth year, the honeymoon period is well and truly over.

'Last night, for the first 15 minutes I thought we did all right. We made half a mistake at the back and we got punished. And that's the level we're at now.

'It's an incredibly hard league. What you find with Matlock, and Cambridge City (FA Cup Saturday), they are hardened Step Three sides. You can see they've been at the level for a few years. And that's the level we've got to get to. We're not there yet, we've had some good wins, but this is a 46-game league. We need to get to the level of Matlock, so consistently when you're not playing well you're still hard to play against. At the minute, we're very, very easy to play against.'

The Gladiators from Derbyshire raced into a 3-0 lead at the break before Lewis McMahon grabbed his second, and his team's fourth, late on.

To read a match report, and see a photo gallery from last night's game, click here.