Steve Watt says Hythe must play with a chip on their shoulder to get the results they are capable of.

The Cannons suffered a 4-0 home defeat by Horndean in Isthmian South East on Saturday – a reverse of the early-season result – with boss Watt questioning the players’ mentality.

He felt complacency crept in after three successive wins and knows Hythe, whose home game against Beckenham last night was postponed, are at their best when they have something to prove.

They conceded in the first minute at the weekend and couldn’t recover.

“Because of the run we were on and the way we’ve won games, I honestly believe the players thought they were just going to turn up and win the game,” said Watt.

“You’ve got to give Horndean a lot of credit. It was the perfect away performance.

“They were clinical when they got their chances and we just made four really bad mistakes for their goals.

“You can’t defend and turn up to games with the mentality the players did and expect to achieve anything.

“As I said to the boys afterwards, it’s a mentality problem, not an ability problem.

“I believe the team we have this year is better than what we had last year in terms of the quality and ability.

“But last year the mentality of the team is what made us achieve what we achieved, in getting to the play-offs.

“We’ve got to prove everyone wrong every time we play.

“We’ve got to keep that chip on our shoulder constantly because no one gives us any credit.

“Too many in the squad this year think we’ve maybe already cracked it by what we did last year or even what we’ve done this year but that’s not the case.

“I’ve pulled them up on it a few times this year. It’s not the first time – I’ve seen it throughout the year.

“We’ve got a team full of very good players but it’s when they think they’ve cracked it and maybe don’t need to apply themselves that results like Saturday happen.

“It’s people not running hard enough, not fighting enough, not making the right decisions, not being switched on enough because they probably think it’s Horndean, we beat them 4-0 last time, we’ll get three points today.”

Hythe host Three Bridges on Saturday (3pm) and visit East Grinstead on Tuesday (7.30pm).