The boss gives his honest assessment on Saturday’s defeat to Hampton & Richmond Borough.
The Whites looked out of sorts during their latest outing against Hampton & Richmond Borough with a 3-0 home defeat, their second in as many games. From keeping four consecutive clean sheets just a couple of weeks ago, Mitch Brundle’s side have now conceded nine goals in three matches.
Speaking to Kent Online Sport Brundle said ‘It was a gutless performance. It’s just not good enough and not accepted. We’ve gone from four successive clean sheets to conceding nine goals against three teams below us, fighting for their lives. We just didn’t have enough character. It was just a gutless performance. I’m upset for the fans, as well, because we were getting a little gathering back together with our consistency and working hard. But we didn’t work hard enough today – and I won’t accept that. Even when I first got the job, I said I’ll never have a team that doesn’t run around – and they didn’t today. They let themselves down. We were missing two key experienced players, which is not an excuse.
You’re just asking the other players to work hard, have that desire and commitment, track runners, and we started the second half a little bit better, changing shape. But we conceded sloppy goals. There was no desire and no pride in their own performance. They have to take that on themselves. Some players do take a little bit, the more consistent ones, but it’s not acceptable from everyone else. We’ll just go back to the drawing board and, hopefully, not have it again.’
Skipper Lee Martin and fellow midfielder Jordan Higgs were both missing from the game following an accumulation of cards that meant both players served a suspension which includes this weeks fixture against St Albans. Fans took to social media and many in the bar after the game we asking why the Gaffer had not included himself in the line-up with limited options in the heart of the midfield.
‘Yeah, maybe now, I maybe didn’t need to play myself at the start [of his time in charge]’, said the boss. ‘But it’s coming to the crunch time for that. Do I think I’m the answer? I don’t know. What I didn’t want to do – and what I think is right – is, if I play myself ahead of someone, basically, I’m telling them they can walk out the door. They’re not good enough. The six games unbeaten wasn’t down to any quality or the ball-side of the game. It was down to heart, desire and commitment. But we didn’t have that and we haven’t had that for the last three games. We can see that on the statistics and they can see it. This is just a tough game to take because it’s not really about quality.’
The Whites head to St Albans this weekend, looking to get back to winning ways.