A miserable Gary McCann admitted that Saturday's defeat at Hampton was "the most damaging defeat for two or three years".

He went on to say, " I thought we lacked the expected performance level, intensity and desire, and that has been unusual for us.

"I cannot remember many duels, one-on-one, that we won today. And you have to win these contests – or the majority of them – to win matches.

"Our defending was nowhere near good enough. It has been that way far too often this season.

"I am not going to comment on the red cards because I haven't seen the footage. The performance was much more of a concern.

"The confidence level of the players is not good at the moment, but this was easily the worst I have seen. All in all, this is the most difficult and challenging period I have gone though for four or five seasons."