DEJECTED Mark Jermyn admitted he felt “embarrassed” and “hurt” after Dorchester Town's 2-1 defeat against rock-bottom Bideford.

The Magpies’ boss also took the time to apologise to the club’s supporters for what he described as an “inept performance” from his squad.

The county town club's hopes of making the play-offs took a huge blow as the Robins pulled off a shock victory at the Avenue and Jermyn, who was serving a suspension on the night, was left highly frustrated by the lacklustre showing from his troops.

He told Echosport: “Tuesday was so far below par I feel embarrassed and I feel quite hurt and the players know that.

“The only thing I can do is apologise to the supporters that were there to watch because it really wasn’t fair on them. They have come to expect better displays from this group than that.

“What let us down was something I didn’t think I would say this season, which was heart and desire.

“Maybe one or two of them could say they tried as hard as they could but, for the rest of them, they let themselves down, they let me down, and I won’t be having it for the rest of the season.

“Our season is not over by any means, we still have a lot of games to play but I think, after Tuesday, the players need to reflect on themselves and what actually got them this far so far this season.

“But, ultimately, what they need to take stock of is that, pretty much, they are not as good as what they thought they were.”

The Robins goals’ came from a corner and directly from a free-kick on Tuesday and Jermyn admitted he was desperately concerned about his side’s inability to defend from set-plays on a regular basis.

He added: “The other thing that is obviously very apparent about us at the moment is that we cannot defend set-pieces no matter what personnel we have doing what and whatever shape we chose to set up for on a set-piece. It is a big issue for us.

“People can say ‘well what have you done about it?’ We have done everything about it. We have trained on it and spoken to people about it. Unfortunately it seems to be our undoing this season.

“We work very hard for our goals. It just seems that we give away goals very simply.”

The defeat has left the Magpies nine points adrift of the top five.