The Mustangs dropped their fourth game in a row, including three at home, losing 79-91 against Bankstown Bruins at the Maitland Federation Centre on Saturday night.

“I think some of the boys might be letting expectations of performing well at home get to them and they are trying too hard to make an impact rather than playing their role,” he said

“I think we play better away as there is less pressure.

“The guys need to realise the fans are not coming to see them score 20 points each or Tyler (Monroe) scoring 40 and the team lose. They want to see us play our roles and win.”

Maitland was again in foul trouble with key players Daniel Millburn and Josh Clifford both fouled out.

Millburn was in red-hot form landing 12 points in 15 minutes of court time, but again drew the referees ire for what Boyle said were unnecessary fouls which contributed nothing to the contest.

“We’ve got to find a way to keep those guys in the game as they are pretty crucial to us,” he said.

“Dan had 12 points in 15 minutes, if he had another 10 minutes we could have got a lot more production out of him.

“Josh is going out in 20 minutes a game. They are two real crucial guys we need on the court.

“We probably get caught over-helping, that’s probably our biggest problem.

“Defensively one-on-one we are not that bad. (Steven) Markovic had 37 last week, he only had 24 last night but the problem is if we get caught trying to help other guys out on Markovic it leaves their man wide open.

“The same thing happened against Hornsby the week before. We got caught too far off our man and they were making wide-open shots as well.”

Doyle said the key to end the losing streak next week at home against top-side Sydney Comets was consistency of effort across the four quarters.

“We know we can score against teams, the last two weeks we’ve scored over 30 points in the fourth quarter against two-three zones, but why can’t we do it in the second and third quarter.

“I don’t know whether it is guys trying to conserve themselves for the back end of the game. We need to show a bit more intensity through the middle.

“If we play to our game plan and take on the defence with our running game, it’s the opposition who ends up in foul trouble and we get to go to the free-throw line.

“The guys have got the fight there. They are not walking away from games we are not being flogged.”