OXFORD City conceded twice in each half as they fell to a bruising 4-0 defeat at Needham Market.
The Hoops lost Corie Andrews early on to injury, and then conceded the opening goal of the game just after the quarter of an hour mark as Iffy Allen broke down the right wing and lobbed Kai McKenzie-Lyle.
The home side doubled their advantage two minutes before half-time when a header from Jacob Lay was judged to have crossed the line after McKenzie-Lyle had made a save to knock the header onto the crossbar.
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Just after an hour had been played, the Marketmen added a third goal of the afternoon as a cross from Lay was attacked by Jamie McGrath.
Four minutes into stoppage time, the Marketmen grabbed their fourth when a cross from Lay wasn’t dealt with, allowing Charlie Wood to finish the move off.
City sit 18th in the Vanarama National League North table, five points clear of the relegation zone. The Hoops make the trip to play-off hopefuls King’s Lynn Town on Tuesday night.
City manager Ross Jenkins said: “It was an extremely bad day. There are no excuses. The players need to stand up and be counted, and they didn’t.
“It was a bad pitch, we knew that. They played it really well and were alive to firsts and seconds, and we weren’t.
“We didn’t look like we wanted to roll our sleeves up and get stuck in. A few individuals kept on going to the end, and credit to those ones.
“I feel for the fans the most. They travelled a far distance to watch that performance and it was a bit of a disgrace, I must say.
“I’ve not been particularly pleased with a couple of performances, but that one topped it off for me because it wasn’t a footballing game.
“It was about heart and passion. They had bundles of it, we lacked in it.”