Crusaders boss Declan Caddell said that the performance from his side in their 3-0 defeat against Portadown “wasn’t good enough”.
Ryan Mayse opened the scoring for the Ports with a cool finish before Ahu Obhakhan and Lewis MacKinnon completed the scoring for the impressive away side.
It is now three defeats on the bounce for the Crues after their positive start to the season and Caddell admits they will look within to find solutions.
“I have praised the players for how they have played the last couple of weeks, but today we looked leggy, we looked tired and a wee bit off it,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“That is something we have to look at as a coaching staff, maybe we are working them too hard in training because we weren’t at it today.
“We started well, conceded a goal and after half-time we didn’t get into the game and Portadown were deserved winners.”
Caddell was disappointed that the Crues were unable to muster a response to Mayse’s first half goal.
“We didn’t look like ourselves, half an hour in we were dead on our feet. We didn’t recover from the first goal, didn’t recover from the second and never looked like getting back into the game,” Caddell explained.
“Portadown got three goals, but it could have been more, so for us, we need to dust ourselves down and go again.”