REGGIE McGuire insisted Witton have only themselves to blame after losing to Rugby on Saturday.

Albion’s first-team coach told the Guardian that his side had been punished for a performance that bore none of the hallmarks of the previous one during a 5-2 win against Leek in midweek.

“We beat ourselves,” he rued.

“I’m not being disrespectful to them, but look at the goals we conceded – they were bad.

“It’s a disappointing way to lose our unbeaten home record; if it’s going to go, then you’d prefer to be outplayed and slap the opposition on the back.

“But we’ve been here before, haven’t we? We’ve struggled previously against sides at the bottom of the table.”

Witton did not recover from a slow start, and fell behind when Ryan Quinn bent a shot out of goalkeeper Calvin Hare’s reach in the fifth minute.

However Steven Tames restored parity before the break, then Will Jones put them in front shortly afterwards.

McGuire said: “We knew we needed a goal in the first half if we possible could, even if we didn’t deserve to score.

“We then asked the lads to try and get their noses in front early in the second period, which they did.

“However we simply didn’t kick on.

“Perhaps one or two thought it would be easy from there.”

Chris Sterling levelled from a header, then substitute Aaron Moses-Garvey made it 3-2 with five minutes left following a defensive mix-up.

Albion replacement Tolani Omotola equalised in added time, only for Sterling to settled the outcome from the final kick of the contest.

The hosts then discovered afterwards that title-rivals Shaw Lane had lost at Basford.

McGuire added: “With them getting beat, a draw would have been ok.

“They’ll have travelled home from Basford feeling as if they’d won.

“Luckily we’ve a second bit of the cherry, I believe that.”

Albion remain nine points adrift of top spot with two games in hand on the Ducks.

They visit Leek Town on Tuesday, kick off 7.45pm.