TIM Flowers questioned the work ethic and desire of his Redditch United side following a shock 1-0 defeat against Shifnal Town in FA Cup Second Round Qualifying.
Joe Thomas pounced on a mistake to win the replay for Shifnal on 44 minutes at the Valley Stadium following a 1-1 draw between the two teams last weekend.
And Flowers slammed his side’s first-half performance as the Reds missed the chance to reach Third Round Qualifying against a team who play two levels below them in the Midland Football League Premier Division.
Flowers said: “The first half was so poor, it was a shambles, we had lads breaking down on the M5 and getting here late for the warm-up, one lad gets here and the game has kicked off.
“The lads wonder why I want them here at one o’clock on a Saturday and not one-thirty, in the end I’ll try and change it slowly.
“I said to them ‘if you think I’m a nice guy, you might me sadly mistaken’ they’ve been treated well and the training is really good.
“If you want to drop the ball just be careful because I’ll forgive anything but not, not running around.
“I didn’t see enough work ethic and desire to go and win a cup tie, I didn’t see anywhere near enough, we’ve got to man up.
“The FA Cup is massive for everybody, I’m absolutely gutted we’re out but we deserve to be out for our first-half performance.
“The players have to pick themselves up, we had a good start but when does that become an average start, you’re always one game away from putting yourself back under pressure.
“I cannot see that [performance] again and will not see it again. I’m sure there’ll be changes on Saturday, it goes without saying, personnel changes will be a given.”
The game’s decisive moment came just before the break as Thomas lobbed the ball over Adam Harrison following a short backwards header towards the Reds goalkeeper.
Redditch are next in action against Bedford Town on Saturday, September 21 with kick-off at 3pm at The Eyrie.
