IAN Saunders admitted his Winchester City side are “nowhere near where we should be defensively" after yesterday's second-half capitulation at home to Tiverton Town.

At half-time the Citizens were in there fighting at 0-0, but the roof caved in once Owen Howe had struck for Tivvy in the 48th minute.

Further goals from Jamie Price and Michael Landricombe (2) left Winchester staring down the barrel of a 4-0 Southern One South & West defeat –their fourth loss in five league games.

“When we conceded in the first three minutes of the second half, the defensive fragility went through the whole side,” admitted Saunders.

“There was a lack of confidence once that first goal went in, we visibly deflated and as the game wore on I was just praying for the final whistle.

“Defensively we’re nowhere near where we should be and that’s not meant as a slight on our defenders. We’ve got to defend as a team.

“We're trying to address it. We’ve worked on it in training and it looked like it was paying off for the first 45 minutes. But it’s a cruel league and mistakes get punished.”

Although ex-Eastleigh goalkeeper Lewis Noice was called upon to make a couple of top-drawer saves, there was nothing in the first half to suggest such a monumental collapse was brewing.

“Tiverton are a well-established side and we matched them first half,” said the boss.

“Jamie Brown had three good strikes and Craig Feeney went through one-on-one and the keeper’s made a good save.

“We said at half-time that we had to play with the same intensity, but the minute we conceded we looked a different side.”

Fourth-to-bottom Winchester have another tough task on their hands tomorrow (Monday, 3pm), away at Wimborne Town, who went second with a 3-0 win at Yate.

“It’s almost out of the frying pan into the fire,” admitted Saunders. “It’d be nice to go one up at some stage. It’s been three clean sheets for the opposition against us in the last three league games.

“It’s still early days, but I’m very aware of the stature of this club. Winchester are renowned for being competitive and, at the moment, we’re not as competitive as we could be. But, on paper, we've still got a hell of a side."