The Hythe Town manager wants a positive response from his team after witnessing what he described as a bizarre afternoon at Chatham on Saturday.

Manager Steve Watt couldn’t believe what he was seeing at the weekend as his men suffered a 6-1 thumping, a result which sent Chats to the top of the Isthmian League South East table.

On one afternoon Watt's side conceded the same amount of goals as they had done in their opening eight league games.

“I never saw it coming,” said the stunned boss. “We have been so good defensively, so tight this year, the league games we have lost up until now have been by one goal, four of the goals are free headers in the six yard box and if you have got players who don’t want to head the ball or get hurt defending the box I don’t know what more you can do.

“We have never looked like conceding that amount of goals, ever. I struggle to put my finger on it. They scored early and that maybe drained confidence from players, we had a good chat, but you can’t allow four free headers in the box.

“I have been in management for five years and I have never had that done to any of my teams, never. I felt a bit let down by the players.”

Hythe had hoped to put it right at home to third from bottom Sheppey United on Tuesday night but heavy afternoon rain led to that match being postponed.

Watt said: “There are a lot of players who have a point to prove after that.

“We went 1-0 down to Ashford last week and then dominated the rest of the game (a match that finished 1-1). It is concerning that we conceded the goals that we did, I did feel that in open play they didn’t cut us open, they weren’t through one on one with the keeper time after time, it was all down to deliveries into the box, which we didn’t deal with.

“We are a big side, we have always been good from set-pieces and defending crosses, so it is surprising that four of the six goals have come from that. It was just ball into the box, goal, ball into the box, goal.

“Credit to Chatham, yes they caused us problems and they were getting at our back line very easily, but they were forced wide which is what we coach and encourage, ‘don’t get beat centrally, force them wide’, but we didn’t pick up runners and didn’t pick up in the box.

"It was a really bizarre day for me, to have seen what I have seen, because I have never seen that from us before.”

Hythe did come out strongly for the second half at Chatham, trying to recover from 3-0 down. Three minutes after the restart substitute Johan Caney-Bryan’s header was deflected past the keeper by home defender Ike Orji.

Marcus Goldsmith crashed a cross against the upright as things looked brighter for Watt's men but chief provider for Chatham Matt Bodkin delivered for Dan Bradshaw to score his second with just over an hour played. All hope then was gone.

Watt said: “None of the players go out and mean to play badly, they all go out to do their best, but that game is done. The best way to apologise, the best way to feel like they have made amends is to win the next game. It's the best way to put things right.

"I was just really disappointed after the Beckenham (3-0 win) and Ashford performances, then we see that, for some reason players looked like they were lost really, which was bizarre. We need to make sure it doesn’t happen again."