JASON Matthews described his side’s 4-1 walloping at the hands of Chippenham Town as a “crushing defeat” at the Bob Lucas Stadium last night.

The Weymouth boss also admitted his team were “out-fought and outplayed” by the Bluebirds, in which the front pairing of Andy Sandell and David Pratt gave the hosts’ backline a torrid time throughout.

Assessing the game, Matthews said: “It’s obviously one of my lowest ebbs as a manager and it’s a bit of a crushing defeat for the first game at home.

“There isn’t really too much getting away from it.

“You can maybe carry one or two bad performances in an evening but I think it’s safe to say that nobody carried themselves in any glory from one to 11.

“I felt that in the first couple of minutes we actually started quite well and, without making any excuses, the sun played a big part in some of their goals.

“Where it was so low it made it so difficult for us to get going, but I am not having it as an excuse, we have to deal with it.”

He added: “You have to give credit to Chippenham, they pressed us all over the park.

“For me they out-fought and outplayed us. I have no complaints with the result.

“We were well and truly beat up and outplayed and it’s going to take a lot of big characters to put it right on Saturday.”

Asked about the impact of Sandell and Pratt, Matthews added: “They will be two of the best forwards in the league and they proved it.

“Just to put the icing on the cake, Matt Smith scored two, who I was chasing for long periods in the summer.”

The Terras will look to bounce back when they host Redditch United on Saturday.