I CANNOT remember a more miserable game of football – a stuffing to fellow strugglers Leyton Orient.

It was tough, and there’s nothing worse than hearing fans turn on their own players and manager.

But Saturday’s performance was absolutely awful, and everybody knew it.

Six points from safety, turned to nine and is now eleven; somehow the atmosphere suggested it wasn’t just me believing that we wouldn’t beat the drop.

It’s easy to blame Graham Westley, and frankly the fans deserve to know answers to the endless questions that they have.

Why isn’t Sean Rigg playing? Same with Jazzi Barnum-Bobb, Joss Labadie or Josh Sheehan.

Or even why did Jon Parkin, a striker who was scoring goals, leave for York?

Westley knows this team well, he knows how they train and the man knows this division very well. But for County fans we want to know where are the top proven players, and why aren’t they playing? County fans deserve some answers.

For me, Orient kicked us right into the National League and slowly and sadly we need to have the future in mind.

The National League isn’t going to be an easy step down, if any of the likes of Forest Green, Tranmere, Aldershot, Eastleigh, Lincoln, and Dagenham were promoted they’d probably sit well in League Two.

Recent form for promoted teams from the highest tier of the non-league is evident to the quality of the National League.

County need to think ahead, even though the relegation race isn’t over, they don’t want to copy York who could face a second successive relegation this season.

It’s now about finding our weaknesses and addressing them, whether that be players or the manager, something isn’t working and we need to fix it.

A good manager can pick up his players, and hit back with a bang. After that defeat, you feel Westley needs to get something at Crewe.

The Gresty Road match-up could well be his most important game as County boss.

Yet surprisingly, there were positives from the weekend! We have a pitch cover, and the Rodney Parade saga is going the right way.

The success of the reduced ticket price incentive also shows that County can attract a good crowd at Rodney Parade.

Let’s just hope they’re not put off after Saturday.