HIGHWORTH Town boss Jeff Roberts lambasted his players after their ‘worst performance of the season’ resulted in a 1-0 loss to struggling Larkhall Athletic in Southern League Division One South.

The home side splashed some colour onto an otherwise dull canvas of a game with 20 minutes to go, consigning Highworth to their fourth defeat in six games as Town’s season peters out into disappointment.

Roberts was left feeling angry that the players that he’d put his faith in to try and dig out a result had let him down so badly in difficult conditions in Bath.

Criticising another slow start to a game from his side – something that has been a problem for the majority of the season for Town – Roberts said his side were on the back foot straight away, but neither team did much to try and win the game.

He said: “With the players we had out, it was always going to be a tough one, and in the first 15 minutes, I thought we started very slow and Larkhall got at us straight away.

“They’re a very big aerial side – direct – and we didn’t cope with it. The pitch was awful – bobbly, bumpy, it didn’t suit us and I thought it was a typical end-of-season game.

“We had quite a few players ducking out, hiding, and especially with the players we had out as well, I thought we were really poor. I didn’t think much of Larkhall, but we were so poor.”

With only two games remaining, Highworth look set to battle Bristol Manor Farm for 14th place.

Roberts said his side will only achieve that if there is no repeat of the lacklustre performances that his players produced at the weekend.

He said: “We couldn’t play our game because the pitch was so bumpy. Every time we had the ball, we gave it away cheaply and it was a game that you could see was a typical end of season game.

“Nothing to play for, for both sides and, on the day, I thought it was just two poor sides.

“When I walked into the changing room after the game, I thought: ‘He didn’t give us enough, he didn’t give us enough’. The players were just going through the motions.

“It’s disappointing for us because we want to come in the highest position we can and there were too many lacklustre performances from our players.

“If I’m honest, I’d say it was probably the worst performance of the season.”