UNDER-FIRE Steve Claridge insists he will not quit as Weymouth player-boss after his woeful side slumped to another Nationwide South defeat.

The terrible Terras went down 2-1 at Thurrock with a performance rated by many fans as one of their worst for years.

It took the Wessex Stadium outfit 74 minutes to even register a shot on target with the reversal meaning they have won just three of their 12 league clashes this season.

The defeat raises the pressure on Claridge ahead of this weekend's huge FA Cup Second Qualifying Round at Dorchester Town.

The veteran striker again hammered his players for an 'embarrassing' showing and has come under fire from sections of the Weymouth crowd.

But the veteran striker insists he is not about to walk away from the Radipole Lane hotseat.

He told Echosport: "I'm sick to the back teeth of our current position and situation but I'm not even thinking of quitting.

"As a manager, there is only so much you can do for the players before they have to take responsibility for their own actions.

"Every one of our players is prepared in the right manner, is catered for and knows his job out on the pitch.

"Once they cross that white line they have to help themselves and we are simply not doing that.

"Obviously I feel the pressure because expectations at the club are huge, as they should be.

"But the guys seem to be playing with the weight of the world on their shoulders at the moment for some reason and don't understand why.

"Everyone is now looking at the Dorchester FA Cup game as a massive one for us, even more so than before, and I would agree. We're at a crossroads in our season now and we have to work extra hard this week to ensure we get a good result on Saturday."

Another couple of defensive errors handed Thurrock striker Tresor Kandol a double in Essex before Terras subsitutute Lee Philpott netted a late consolation.

Claridge said: "That was an utterly lifeless performance - we did not look like we even wanted to win it.

"It seemed like we just had 11 shirts out there going through the motions, it was embarrassing.

"We gave away two poor goals, which I've come to expect us to do nearly every game now, but even then we did not get going. I can forgive the two previous games against Basingstoke and Carshalton in a way because they were individual errors.

"But this was way below that and I just can't believe we had the same side out that performed so well against Basingstoke.

"We had a long chat in the dressing room after the game and every player said they had never played in a side that made so many individual mistakes.

"What can I do to legislate for that?"

Claridge praised Weymouth's fans who travelled to Thurrock and saw such a miserable performance.

"I want to personally apologise to the fans for that showing," he said.

"They must have spent a lot of money and time coming to watch us and as usual were tremendous in their backing. What happened simply was not acceptable and I also want to say sorry for the players not acknowledging the fans at the end.

"There was no excuse for that but we were gutted about the result and hope they will forgive us."