MATT Clarke wants his Redditch United side to ‘work smarter’ after slipping to another narrow 2-1 defeat away at Spalding United.
The Reds surrendered an early lead after Ryan Boothe broke the deadlock as goals from Jason Law and James Clifton turned the game on its head before half time at the Sir Halley Stewart Field.
The result means Redditch sit 16th in the Southern League Premier Central table, just six points above the relegation zone.
And Clarke admits his players need to work smarter and could not hide his frustration at his side’s inability to deal with crosses into the box.
Clarke said: “The players are working incredibly hard but we don’t work smart and we’re conceding exactly the same type of goal week in week out.
“We can’t defend the ball into our box, that’s the top and bottom of it. We’re falling down on the same things.
“People start getting nervous, we just need to focus on ourselves, we need to get points on the board.
“It’s very small margins, it’s down to decisions and desire and we’re falling on the wrong side [of results] week in week out.
“I’m not too worried about the outside noise, we just need to make sure the club is in this league next season.
“I’m not panicking just yet.”
Redditch made the perfect start as Boothe turned home an attempted Spalding clearance on six minutes after the visitors failed to deal with Anthony Dwyer’s low ball into the box.
However, Spalding drew level on 11 minutes when Law volleyed home Clifton’s cross from the right after United failed to deal with two crosses from either flank.
And the home side completed the turnaround in first-half injury time when Clifton acrobatically turned the ball home following a corner from the right.
Redditch are next in action against Royston Town on Saturday, March 1 with kick-off at 3pm at the Valley Stadium.
