WORCESTER City failed to reach “anywhere near” the heights they had set this month in their “tired” 3-2 defeat to Nuneaton Town, according to manager Carl Heeley.

The Blue and Whites arrived at the Victoria Ground on Saturday aiming to record a fifth win in seven matches and finish September unbeaten.

Cieron Keane got City off the mark with a 19th-minute strike before Elliott Whitehouse’s quick-fire double put Nuneaton ahead.

Lee Hughes equalised moments later but on the hour mark Aaron Williams headed in what proved to be the winner.

Heeley said he was disappointed to see City’s “great run” come to an end and he felt his players looked “lethargic”.

“We have not reached anywhere near the heights we have reached in the last six games,” said Heeley, whose side had won their last three Vanarama National League North clashes.

“Our passing was sloppy and we looked very tired and quite lethargic. I think in spells in the game they looked fresher than us and looked like they had more energy at times.

“We have had a great run and it’s a shame we could not finish the month off unbeaten. But we have got to dust ourselves down and move on to the next game.”

Prior to the match, City had conceded just once in four encounters with clean sheets coming against Bradford Park Avenue, Brackley Town and AFC Telford United.

But Whitehouse scored twice after being found unmarked and Williams netted with a free header to leave Heeley frustrated.

“The goals against us were not good and that’s why we didn’t win the game,” he said.

“The frustrating thing about football is that you go to places like Brackley and defend superbly well. But then you give away free headers and get punished.”

There was a groan of dismay from the home fans when captain Danny Jackman, who had impressed on his return to the side, was replaced with 25 minutes to go.

However, City's boss insisted it was a “tactical decision”.

“I thought we just looked tired, so by bringing Batch (Richard Batchelor), Nathan (Olukanmi) and Jordan (Murphy) on I was just trying to inject a bit of energy,” he said.

Despite the defeat, Heeley refused to be critical of his players after a month which has seen them climb seven places to 15th and move into the third qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup, where they will host Brackley on Saturday (3pm).

“The boys have worked incredibly hard,” he added. “It has been a really good month and every run is going to come to an end.

“But the key thing is to get on another one as quickly as we possibly can. I am not going to get too clouded by what happened.

“You won’t see me ecstatic when we are winning games and you won’t see me hammering people constantly when we are losing games.

“We weren’t at it on Saturday and that’s the reason we got beaten.

“If we had have been at it, we would have had a much better opportunity to win the game.”