ACTING coach Will Croker described Oakmeadians’ 30-14 home defeat to Wallingford as “embarrassing”.

Oaks’ South West One East promotion hopes suffered a massive blow with Croker’s charges slumping to their fourth defeat in five league contests.

The Meyrick Park outfit are now six points adrift of leaders Marlow and four shy of second-placed Cheltenham, with Croker insisting Saturday’s lacklustre display was “not good enough”.

Croker, who has taken on coaching duties while brother and head coach James recovers from a heart attack, said: “We were utterly atrocious.

“We’ve now got a lot of work to do. It’s one thing to play the top sides away and lose, but when you start losing at home to Buckingham and Wallingford, it suddenly becomes more than just a tight season.

“The fact we have lost all these games since James has not been with us is evidence enough. We’re not playing with the same fluidity that we were and we are not looking as threatening as a back division.

“We’re not dominating games the way we should be and we’re in a tough spot right now. We’ve got a cup game on Saturday, though, and that could give us a chance to put a few things right as well as easing the pressure on the league campaign.

“But we’ve got to play better because we are at sixes and sevens at the moment. Brendon Daniel pulled out of the game on Saturday morning with a shoulder injury and that didn’t help, but there is enough quality in this squad to remedy the situation and we’ve got to get on and start putting things right.”

Jamie Mitchell and Tom Morgan bagged Oaks’ two consolation tries on Saturday, with Jamie Tryska adding two conversions to the tally.

Oaks: Garrett, Rutter, Smith, Hudson, Croker (Ford), McMahon (Coughlan), Davies, Richards, Mitchell, Tryska, McTaggart (Hare), Samuels, Drummond, Morgan, Bell.