Chris Hargreaves admitted his Yeovil Town side were “below par” after they went down to a 1-0 defeat at home to National League newcomers York City.
The Glovers’ boss said he felt his players looked fatigued and cited a strong wind blowing across Huish Park as reasons for the loss which means they have won just one of their opening seven matches.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, Hargreaves said substitutions to bring on Gime Toure and Sam Pearson after an hour did not work.
He said: “We can’t hide away from the fact that a few (players) were below par, I don’t think there’s any getting away from that fact.
“I tried to change it at 0-0 and it didn’t really affect it for whatever reason, and that was disappointing because we try and change it to get more chances, but it didn’t.”
He added: “There’s been some very good performances this season and today wasn’t one, I accept that 100%.
“No-one will be doing anything other than looking at themselves in the Hargreaves household that’s for sure, because that’s my job.
“I’ll review it, I’ll review what I could have done better, we were at home, we were 0-0, I tried to make the changes, I tried to be positive with the changes, didn’t come off and we conceded a very poor goal.”
Goalkeeper Grant Smith pulled off a 70th minute penalty save from eventual goalscorer Lennell John-Lewis and made two other great saves to deny the striker.
Midfielder Matt Worthington missed the game with an injury which the manager said was “not too serious” and there was no place in the squad for new signing Will Dawes, signed for an undisclosed five-figure fee from Stratford Town in the week.
Charlie Wakefield had another frustrating game having started in a more central position and ending the game as a centre forward with strikers Alex Fisher and Malachi Linton both withdrawn before the end.
The manager said: “We’ve seen him play in two or three positions, one of those was late on up front, he didn’t quite have the legs to get away when we did have one chance where he was sort of clean through or one-v-one.
“They are my decisions and I’ve got to stick them, did I see enough before then? No, which is why I made the changes.”
The Glovers’ now have seven days until they travel to Woking, managed by former manager Darren Sarll, for their next National League encounter.
Asked how he would pick up his players, Hargreaves said: “They’re professional footballers, they’ll pick themselves up, they’ll be desperate to train, they’ll be desperate for the next game I’ve got no concerns about that.
“They’re a fantastic group of lads, they know what we want from them – we didn’t quite put the action plan together today for a number of reasons which we need to review very quickly.
“But I’ve got no problem with the morale of the group, they know they’ll be together and be fighting from the first until the last minute next week.”