While he admitted that they needed to raise their game in the final third of the pitch, manager Mark Ashford said Witham Town hadn't got what he felt they deserved at Soham Town Rangers.

The defeat on Saturday left Witham rock bottom of the Bostik League division north table ahead of Friday night's home game against Aveley and Ashford felt the 3-0 scoreline was harsh on his players.

However, he did say that they needed to be better in front of goal to convert the chances that they created.

He said: "The first two goals were from direct free-kicks from outside the box about 25 to 30 yards out.

"You don't concede too many like that in a season let alone two in one game.

"Things like that make it difficult and when you are struggling, things like that seem to happen, but it was not reflective of the game.

"The third came when we threw people forward at the end, but it was not a 3-0 game.

"Our keeper Luca (Collins) only had one or two saves to make other than that.

"We had 12 or 13 corners, but our play in the final third was not good enough and that hurt us in the end.

"We played some of our best football elsewhere on the pitch, with some good combinations but it was not good enough in the final third in terms of our creative play and finishing.

"It's frustrating because people will look at the result, but that was not the case.

"We got punished by two free-kicks early in each half and we left feeling that we had not got rewarded for our play.

"Credit to Soham because, like us, they are a better team than their league position says, but we were disappointed."