HARWICH and Parkeston boss Kieron Shelley believes his side got a "kick up the backside" after losing their unbeaten record at the Royal Oak.

Despite taking the lead through Luke Barnard, the Shrimpers slipped to a 2-1 defeat Wormley Rovers in Thurlow Nunn League division one south on Saturday.

It was their first home defeat and to add insult to injury, skipper Jordan Heath suffered an ankle injury and now faces several weeks on the sidelines.

Brad Westley also had to go off after taking a bang to his knee but should be fit for this weekend's trip to Frenford.

Reflecting on the Wormley setback, Shelley said: “It was one to forget, in all honesty.

“Wormley are second or third from bottom and I expected us to take the game to them.

“They weren’t prepared to roll over, though.

“They rattled our cage and were awkward, working relentlessly hard.

“After an even, scrappy first half, we knew we needed to be more professional after the break.

“Instead, we got sucked into a fight but our best spell came after they equalised to make it 1-1.

“We hit the woodwork on two or three occasions, their keeper made some unbelievable saves and we had a blatant penalty turned down.

“We put them under real pressure looking for an elusive second goal but instead they broke away and got a penalty.

“It was a kick up the backside and just shows what happens when you don’t have the right attitude.

“Maybe one or two of the boys went into cruise control, especially after taking an early lead.

"They thought we’d go onto win.

“But rather than kicking on and killing the game, we switched off and paid a heavy price."

Wormley's winning goal came from the penalty spot, following an alleged handball.

However, Shelley felt it was a "very harsh" decision.

“It certainly wasn’t deliberate and the ball just brushed my defender’s arm on the way through to the keeper," he said.

“Ryan (Heath) then talked himself into a red card and it was his second of the season – both for dissent.

“He needs to learn from that and be more professional, because referees won’t tolerate behaviour like that and rightly so.

“I was gutted and it would have hurt the players, because they knew they were better on the day.

“We could have moved the ball more quickly and played with more tempo.

“But there’s nothing worse than creating chances and still losing, only scoring one goal.”

Harwich are eighth in the table and following Saturday's trip to Frenford they head to Felixstowe and Walton Reserves for a First Division Knockout Cup tie on Tuesday night.

They will hope to get back on track after the Wormley defeat, which, in turn, came on the back of a 3-2 loss against leaders Hashtag United.

“Losing two on the bounce is a concern," added Shelley.

“We’re still shipping goals and I’m not proud of that, especially as a former defender.

“But we’ll get it right. I’m confident of that and hopefully we can keep pushing on, in and around the top ten."