Cleator Moor Celtic played their first game for a fortnight and went down 5-2 at Chadderton in the North West Counties League.
Apart from two players, Celtic fielded an Under-21s side with several regulars missing through injuries and suspensions, and that was evident from the start.
They conceded a penalty after four minutes and an own goal on 36 minutes made it 3-0.
Connor Hammill reduced the arrears soon after with a tidy finish following good work by Luke Ivison.
Chadderton then scored two more early in the second-half before Luke Close scored an 84th minute penalty six minutes from the end.
Celtic manager Brian Dawson said: “We lacked fight and desire and made too many individual errors. In a nutshell we just weren’t at the races.
“In spells we played some good stuff and could have scored a few more but in all honesty so could they.
“We need to bring some kind of consistency to our game.
“We’ve defended the players in recent weeks when they’ve been in games and perhaps have felt hard done to by some of the decisions that have gone against us….unfortunately we couldn’t do that on this performance.
“We’ve had a tough wee getting a side together, we arrived at the ground late and to top it all off the bus broke down on the way home.
“It was a bad day at the office and one we’ve just got to put to bed.”
*Holker Old Boys, Celtic’s fellow Cumbrians in First Division North, scored a 2-1 win at South Liverpool.
William McGladdery scored the winner six minutes from the end.
Sam Joel, a former Workington Reds striker, had put them ahead on 19 minutes but the hosts equalised three minutes later.
The win lifted Holker up to sixth in the table just outside the play-offs.
