HORLEY Town manager Ali Rennie told his squad they looked tired following their 1-0 win over bottom club Hartley Wintney last Saturday.
His side have played more than 15 games since the start of September in all competitions and they played against the same opposition the week before, winning 3-1.
"A win is a win, but it wasn't the best performance from us," said Rennie.
"I thought we looked a bit tired and I told the players that after the game.
"We played a lot of games in September. I think we played eight, then we played six games in October and we've played three in the first seven days this month, so we've actually played a lot.
"And if you look at the league table, we've played a lot more than others."
"We did have another couple of chances, but we certainly didn't create enough as the previous week against them.
"To be fair to Hartley Wintney, they played well and probably took a lot of positives from their narrow defeat to Guernsey in midweek.
"We've played them two Saturdays in a row and I'd definitely say they're an improving side, but we were a bit disappointing."
Goalkeeper Ian Chatfield celebrated his 40th birthday on Saturday and it was something to savour on a personal level by keeping a clean sheet.
And Rennie revealed that the custodian is set to have a celebration at the club this Saturday night.
"I said to him afterwards I was really pleased he got a clean sheet on his birthday and he made a couple of decent saves to be fair to him," he said.
"He's having a party this Saturday at the football club as we're at home, so hopefully we can get another win and celebrate his birthday in style."
But before one or two crack open the champagne, the team face Sandhurst Town - another team struggling second-from-bottom in the league.
"If I'm honest, in the five years that I've been at Horley, we've tended to do better against teams higher up the league," said Rennie.
"For example, we went to Dorking last Tuesday, and they were not in the best form, but we found ourselves 1-0 down then 2-1 down before winning the game 3-2, but it was tough performance."
