JAMES McKeown admits that Blundell Park can be a difficult place to play for him and his Grimsby Town team-mates – but insists that is no excuse for their 'terrible' performance against Nuneaton.
Boos rang out at both half-time and at the end of the 2-1 defeat on Saturday following a largely abject display from the Mariners.
And McKeown says that playing in front of an expectant home crowd can bring added pressure.
But after what he assessed as the poorest display he had witnessed during his time with Town, the stopper insists it is the players' responsibility to handle fans' expectations of them.
"Saturday was as poor as I've seen us since I've been here," he admitted.
"The preparation was there, we knew what to expect but we were terrible.
"Second half, we got down to ten men and it's always going to be difficult, but the first half was awful really.
"In fact, from start to finish, we were nowhere near good enough."
He added: "It's hard playing here at times.
"Because we were playing Nuneaton, the fans do expect us to win three or four-nil but that's not always going to be the case.
"There is expectation, but it's up to us as players to handle that because that becomes our responsibility.
"Regardless of who you play for there's going to be pressure, but we've got to deal with it.
"We can't blame anyone though – we were poor and we've got to look at ourselves as players."
Saturday's defeat means that Town have now won, drawn and lost at Blundell Park so far this season and McKeown acknowledges that is not good enough for a side with lofty ambitions this season.
He said: "We have to win games here if we want to get promoted and win the league. Away from home, I'd always back us to get the wins but it's at home that we need to get wins.
"We've won one, lost one and drawn one at Blundell Park and that isn't good enough.
"You have set-backs as players but good teams bounce back and that's what we need to do."
