Gary Naysmith has apologised to the East Fife support following their Bayview horror show.
The Methil men were hammered 5-0 by promotion-chasing Ayr United, meaning the Fifers remain in the relegation play-off spot.
A double from Michael Moffat was added to by strikes from Kevin Kyle, Michael Donald and Alan Forrest as Ayr cruised.
“I want to apologise to the fans for that performance. It’s not acceptable,” Naysmith said. “We have to be hard to beat and professional, but we never did that.
“You give Michael Moffat chances like we did and he’s not going to miss.
“The disappointing thing for us is that once they got their first goal we just folded.
“You can talk about tactics but if you don’t have that desire to bounce back after a setback there’s nobody who can put that into you.”
Ayr took the lead when Jonny Stewart tripped Donald as he weaved his way into the box.
From the spot, Moffat sent Greg Paterson the wrong way.
It was 2-0 after Gary Thom slipped on the edge of his own box and gifted possession to Moffat. The Ayr hitman composed himself before rounding Paterson and firing home.
On the stroke of half-time Kyle bundled home a Scott McGlaughlin corner.
The Fifers remain desperate for points as they look to edge away from the relegation zone.
But any hope they had of taking something from this game could be forgotten when Ayr made it 4-0.
Donald was allowed too much time to wander in from the wing and sent an unstoppable shot past Paterson.
Stephen Hughes had a couple of half chances but Ayr’s keeper David Hutton was equal to them.
With the last kick of the game substitute Forrest rifled home from inside the East Fife box.