MAGPIES boss Tim Sills admitted that his side failed to meet their own high standards in a 3-1 defeat away at Bideford.

Jez Bedford had gotten Wimborne off to a flyer away in Devon, opening scores early on, before a penalty on the stroke of half-time gave Bideford life.

Two further goals from the hosts condemned Magpies to defeat for the first time since the end of September.

At the start of the month Magpies had won the return fixture by the same scoreline, with Sills agreeing that away defeat had been close to the opposite of the first meeting.

Sills told the Daily Echo: “I mean, it was similar in the fact that we scored early, and made our dominance count, which we did in the home game.

“Bit of a disputable penalty just before half time. It gives them a lift.

“And then going into second half it's about how we react and we just fell short of our normal standards.

“Defensively nowhere near as solid.

“Below standards defensively, where we've been so good the week before.

“We weren't anywhere near it as a whole unit, whole team.

“Just gave them the impetus to get the belief and go on.

“We still had chances, especially at 2-1 to get ourselves back in it.

“Also, I'm not one for excuses, but I have to say, the more I reflect on it, the journey up, which took four hours and should have taken two hours 40 minutes.

“I’m sure the driver picked the route that would lead to the most travel sickness.

“We definitely looked more sluggish than we have all season, to be fair.”

Magpies’ defeat was tempered by the fact that only one side in the play-offs avoided defeat at the weekend, Mousehole defeating league leaders Willand Rovers 4-0.

Although the Cornish side leapfrogged Wimborne in the league table, they are still within touching distance.

“I try not to look at the league table at the moment,” Sills continued.

“I’m just more focused on our record. The rest of it takes care of itself.

“It's a bonus. It's a bonus that other teams lost.

“It's also more frustrating because it was a chance for us to get another bit of a firm grip on pushing ourselves up the table.

“But if I'm going to look around at other results and they go our way, then I'm definitely not going to complain.

“We have might have got away with one, but we can't afford too many more.”