Manager Mark Morsley labelled yesterday’s dismal 3-1 defeat at lowly Brentwood Town, in the Isthmian League North, as the most “insipid performance” he had seen from any of his teams during a long career in football management.

East Anglian Daily Times: AFC Sudbury's skipper, Joe Whight, patrolling the left flank against hosts Brentwood Town. Picture: CARL MARSTONAFC Sudbury's skipper, Joe Whight, patrolling the left flank against hosts Brentwood Town. Picture: CARL MARSTON (Image: Archant)

Out-of-sorts AFC Sudbury, who came into the game fresh from back-to-back wins over Basildon United (3-0 in the league) and Felixstowe & Walton (4-0 in the Velocity Trophy), were well beaten.

Morsley admitted: "I would have to dig around in my memory bank to recall a more insipid performance, from any of my teams in a long career in football.

"They are strong words, but I can't fathom it really.

"We made Brentwood look good - they looked like they were frightened to pass the ball, but they didn't need to play because we kept giving the ball to them!"

Morsley was also at a loss to understand exactly why his team were so poor.

"Something wasn't right today," continued Morsley.

"I find it very difficult to put my finger on it.

"I felt we were lethargic; we were just not at it really. We turned up, the sun was out and it was warmer, and it's like we were treating it like a pre-season friendly.

"The first goal was always going to come, because we kept giving the ball away, from the first minute.

"I find it incredible that a team who can play such good possession football, which is something we spend so much time working on, can then be passing the ball around blindly and giving the ball away.

"We got back into the game. We got the equaliser but the first half was dreadful really.

"The three changes did make a difference, and we got on top. I took off the players who had not done enough, with three substitutions early in the second half.

"And we then dominated the game. I thought we were going to get a goal here, but then we gave away a very soft penalty.

"Our goalkeeper (Paul Walker) has come off his line, after they had been no threat at all, and after that it was a case of them wasting time.

"Both penalties were totally avoidable. The first one came from Ben Hunter with his poor back pass, and then Joe Grimwood has stretched and caught the lad, and then there was the second one.

"We had scored a few goals during the week, and looked quite good really, but this was very, very poor."

Tom Maycock had netted a 17th minute equaliser for AFC Sudbury, following Andy Freeman's fifth minute opener, but penalties by Zak Pianim (41) and Jason Williams (75) won it for Brentwood.