Neal Ardley feels his players need to take responsibility for Notts County’s defeat to Bromley on Saturday.
The Magpies were beaten 2-1 at Hayes Lane, despite Kyle Wootton netting for the third game in succession.
And Ardley says his players had been well prepared for the threats posed by their hosts so he was disappointed with the manner of Alfie Doughty and Shawn McCoulsky’s goals.
“Both have come from stuff we worked on throughout the week and showed the boys,” he stressed.
“As well as that, it was something we showed them videos of an hour before kick-off and we still let it happen.
“I defend players all the time and won’t try and make excuses but once they go across that white line, there isn’t a lot we can do.
“When you don’t take on the information you’re given, you only have yourselves to blame.”
The result takes Bromley to the top of the Vanarama National League and Ardley says Notts need to learn a lesson from their hosts.
“We didn’t deserve to win the game but didn’t deserve to lose it either,” he said.
“They’re top because they’ve won when they should have drawn and drawn matches they should’ve lost.
“We haven’t. We’ve lost games we should have drawn or won and that’s why they are above us in the league.
“That’s not luck. You can’t concede two goals away from home and expect to get much – the boys have to grasp that.
“I didn’t think it’d be a game we’d lose if we did things right. We clawed our way back in after a bad start and I expected us to go on to win.”
Notts are back in action with another trip to London on Tuesday evening to face Boreham Wood, but they are likely to be without Jim O’Brien, who is the latest to join a growing list of players to be sidelined.
“It looks like he has broken his arm,” explained Ardley. “He was in agony and I doubt he’ll be fit in two days.
“We don’t have the money to go looking towards the transfer market and we’ve got a squad together now – 10 days ago I was wondering who to leave out and now I’m scratching around for a team but we have to get on with it.
“We need to regroup and get the legs back ready to put in a good performance on Tuesday.
“We’ll count the bodies and see who’s available. One or two might come back into the squad but a couple aren’t going to be ready.”