WORCESTER City manager Carl Heeley admitted to being baffled by what he described as an inept performance against Altrincham.

A 3-0 defeat knocked City out of the FA Trophy and handed them their third consecutive defeat at St George’s Lane.

Heeley said: “The performance wasn’t good enough and we know that. The goals we conceded were sloppy and as a consequence we’re out of the FA Trophy.

“It’s baffling how we can put that performance in. I thought our passing was astray, we didn’t defend well and we didn’t look a threat. Although I felt we had a bit of a go in the second-half, it was a bad day at the office all round.

“It’s hard to explain individually and as a team how that performance has come about but occasionally it happens.

“It’s the first time this season we have been soundly beaten and deserved nothing.

“We came up against a side I felt were there to be beaten but they’ve got a lot of firepower and for our lapses they’ve punished us and they deserved to go through.

"You’ve got to try and keep yourself level-headed when you win and play superbly because it has got a habit of kicking you in the teeth and you get a totally inept performance, which we’ve had.

“We started off quite brightly but then it was a mad six minutes and we conceded three goals.

“I thought we were marginally better as a unit in the second-half. We had three or four chances but Altrincham had chances to extend their lead as well.”