Carlisle City produced probably their poorest performance of the season in a 2-0 home defeat by Guisborough.
Manager Jim Nichols admitted it was really poor fare for the fans to watch, a slog for 90 minutes.
He said: “They didn’t play the football that some of the teams have done against us.
“They were a big, physical side and if I’m truthful I would have to say they outmuscled us.
“We had both Callum Birdsall and Jordan Holt missing and they are two players who would have responded in a game like that and the type we needed.
“There weren’t a lot of chances for either side and I rather thought at half-time that the team who scored first would go on to win it.
“We didn’t deal with a second ball into our box and the lad volleyed it home at the far post. Overall, though, after 10 games we have only lost two and we would have taken that start at the beginning of the season.
“The important thing is that we don’t get into a bit of a rut and we pick-up again as quickly as possible. We have three away games coming up in succession, the third one a derby at Penrith, and we want to be back on song for those three fixtures.”
Joseph Bartliff had opened the scoring for Guisborough on 72 minutes and Jason Blackburn added the second eight minutes from the end.
City travel to Tow Law on Saturday and that’s followed on October 1 with a game at West Auckland before the game at Penrith on October 4.
After the defeat by Guisborough City drop to fifth, seven points behind leaders Whitley Bay from the same number of games.
