St Neots Town manager Peter Gill labelled defeat to Colney Heath as "horrendous" but admitted his side were second best at the Recreation Ground.

The 1-0 loss, courtesy of a second-half penalty from Kwon Hepburn, was only the Magpies' second since elevation to the Southern League for the first time in their history.

The had lost 17 of their previous 19 games but deservedly claimed the three points as Saints own poor run continues.

Gill said: "It is an embarrassing defeat. For us to lose that game is horrendous. That’s the reality of it.

"It wasn’t a game of football, it was a battle on a mudbath, but we didn’t run hard enough and fair play to them, they fully deserved to win.

"They ran harder than us, they ran faster than us, they committed themselves.

"The pitch is no excuse. They wanted it more and worked hard for it.

"It’s a low point."

Saints' early season form, which hinted at play-offs at least, is becoming a rapidly fading memory with only one win now in the last seven Division One Central games now leaving them 12th in the table.

And Gill knows they have to respond quickly.

"We’re on a terrible run and we need to get out of it," he admitted.

"We’ve not been out-played or out-fought in many games but until now each one has had its own story, there has always been a turning point.

"[Colney Heath] simply out-fought us.

"We’ve had a few words in there and I don’t know what else there is to do to change things.

"Maybe we need to change personnel but at the end of the day, if you don’t run hard, you don’t win games of football.

"The phrase running hard doesn’t necessarily mean to defend, it could mean to attack as well, whether that means getting into higher positions or running beyond and into a space.

"But we could have been playing out there for another couple of hours and we wouldn’t have scored.

"We’re going to have to turn it around soon. It is a difficult period and we need that springboard, but we thought we had it against Romania which was a very good win for us.

"It’s a tough time."