ASSISTANT manager Ashley Vincent called for Worcester City’s fans to have their say “in a proper way” after addressing a critic in the stand on Saturday.

Murmurs of discontent were punctuated by cries of disapproval from near to the section of the main stand where Vincent was sat during an uninspiring 2-0 home defeat to Romulus in the Midland Football League Premier Division.

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John Snape’s right-hand man sat next to the supporter for a minute or so midway through the second half in what appeared to be an amicable conversation.

Another member of the crowd stood up and interjected, telling Vincent that they had been supporting the club for more than 60 years while he had “been around for five minutes”.

Vincent tried to reason with the second supporter as he made his way back to his own seat but to no avail.

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“There was one guy who aimed some words towards me, I heard it in the first half and again in the second so I asked his opinion,” said Vincent.

“I didn’t want him to be shouting because I was not going to do that.

“One of the fans made a valid point that they have come to support their team, they have paid their money and have their opinions which is fine.

“What I would say is things could be addressed in a proper way.

“We have a young, hungry team. Yes, they were not at their best and the performance was not good.

“Regardless of what anyone thinks no one is more frustrated about that than the gaffer (John Snape) and me, I can tell you that for certain.

“I get the frustration, totally, but there are ways of airing it. I pointed out that they are young boys and asked ‘what about giving them a bit of support when they need it most?’

“There was a fan that took exception to that. He had his opinion and I didn’t say anything back.

“I would just ask that people treat me as they would like to be treated.”

Chances were few and far between, particularly for a City side downed by debutant Nyeko Sinclair’s own goal and a far-post header from Cameron Lee.

“I don’t want what happened to tarnish the fact we came up against a willing and robust side in Romulus. They fully deserved their win,” admitted Vincent.

“What the boys must learn from this, and really quickly, is that they cannot be naïve.

“Just because we have had a good week in games and in training, they cannot expect it all to be beach soccer. You have to work and earn your victories.

“While the work rate was there, I didn’t think they went the right way about earning the right to win which was why we got beaten.

"After the free-flowing, fast performance of last week where we had lots of crosses and shots while stopping our opponents this was totally the opposite.

"Bar one it was the same team so while you can never guarantee the same performance, we expected similar.

"It was fresh in the mind, we asked for them to play the same way, be aggressive and on the front foot, deliver balls when you can and get shots off.

"It came down to being naive in a sense, that we thought we could turn up and play football without the basics of competing and outworking your opponents first and foremost.

"I am not going to make excuses for the players. Maybe because of last week and the way we trained, it went so well we thought we could turn up and go from where we left off.

"All of a sudden they hit a team that was robust and worked their socks off, they were not going to accept what we did last week.

"Who is going to accept that? We needed to do the fundamentals ahead of that and I think it came from a naivety rather than effort levels.

"I would not say we did not try, I would never say that because that is not what we have in the dressing room. It was the manner in which we worked – we ran around but did we do it smartly?

"Sometimes less is more. It was not a lack of effort by any means, it was just directed in the wrong way in the wrong areas."