A BAD day at the office.

That was FC Clacton manager Kieron Shelley’s honest assessment of Saturday’s 6-0 drubbing at home to Newmarket Town.

The Seasiders were two-down at half-time before capsizing during a one-sided second half, at the Rush Green Bowl.

Lewis Whitehead scored a hat-trick and is now the league’s top scorer, with 22 goals.

Deakan Napier, Jamie Thurlbourne and Scott Paterson were also on target for the visiting Jockeys.

“We haven’t produced a performance like that for a while and, all round, it was a very bad day at the office,” said Shelley.

“We made the worst possible start and that kind of thing is haunting us a bit at the moment – turning up and not being ready or switched on.

“We’ve given ourselves a platform and a lifeline but it’s almost as though we thought we could relax.

“However, we simply can’t do that and perhaps we fell into a bit of a trap of thinking we’re a bit better than we actually are.

“We can’t go into any game thinking we’ve got some god given right to win, just because our recent form has been better.”

Shelley was disappointed his side didn’t given a better account of themselves.

“We struggled to get the ball off the ground and couldn’t get it past the first man, five yards away,” he said.

“We gave away three of the goals by trying to play football in the wrong area and that’s criminal.

“It became a bit of a circus and I’d had enough, by the end of the 90 minutes.

“I don’t think the officials helped our cause, either, and two of the goals came from bad decisions.

“It just didn’t happen for us and we were badly punished by a very good Newmarket side.

“I was looking at their website the night before the game and noticed they’ve got five players with more than 15 goals.

“I haven’t got one player with 15 goals.

“Kevin (Coyle) is our top scorer with seven.

“Newmarket have got serious firepower and a willingness to work hard off the ball.

“But I was angry because I thought we could have given them a better game.

“I want every club we go up against to think ‘that boy’s made a difference to that team. They play football and are really trying to do something’.

“Instead, Newmarket would have left at the weekend and thought we were no different to the side that was struggling earlier in the season. That hurts me.

“The players were more interested in having an argument with the referee or an assistant than getting the ball down and trying to make something happen.”

Clacton remain second from bottom in the table - five points above Swaffham Town but five behind Ely City, six behind Hadleigh United and eight behind Long Melford.