REDDITCH United were brought back down to earth following last weekend’s derby win as Matt Clarke’s side were thumped 7-2 away at promotion-chasing Rushall Olympic.
Danny King started and completed the scoring for Redditch as Rushall put the Reds to the sword with seven unanswered goals in between whilst Bernard Mensah was stretchered off for the visitors on an afternoon to forget at Dales Lane.
The result means Redditch sit ninth in the Southern League Premier Central table.
Reds boss Clarke said: “We couldn’t deal with them and we crumbled, it was embarrassing, it’s happened three or four times now this season.
“As a manager you have to take accountability for results and accountability for performances like that, a football team should always resemble the manager and that doesn’t resemble me, I’m very embarrassed.
“They ripped us apart during a 25-minute spell in the first half, we didn’t work hard enough, we didn’t get close enough to anybody and we lost our battles.
“It’s a bad day, we’re going to really analyse that in depth, we’ve got a good group, they’ve done really well for us this season but that was unacceptable and I never saw that coming, it’s a low point as a manager.”
Despite the final scoreline, Redditch started well and took the lead on nine minutes when King drove into the area and slotted the ball past Jake Weaver from Reece Flanagan’s pass.
However, Rushall were level just three minutes later when Adam Harrison’s clearance cannoned off Jermaine Hylton and went into the net.
And the home side completed the turnaround on 27 minutes when Andre Landell was afforded too much space in the penalty area and easily finished past Harrison.
Rushall extended their lead on 34 minutes when Will Shorrock turned his marker in the area and found the far corner before Hylton scored his second of the game just four minutes later when he coolly dinked a penalty past Harrison.
However, a clash of heads between Mensah and Rushall’s Sam Whittall resulted in a lengthy stoppage with the former stretchered from the field with a suspected concussion.
And things went from bad to worse for Redditch as Rushall struck twice before the end of the half through Sam Mantom on 43 minutes and Landell on the stroke of half time with a strike from the edge of the penalty area
Redditch trailed 6-1 at the interval as Clarke’s side were left shell-shocked having conceded five goals in the space of 18 minutes.
And Rushall inflicted further humiliation on the Reds with their seventh goal on 68 minutes as Mantom rounded Harrison before finishing into an empty net.
The visitors never gave up and scored a consolation goal on 72 minutes when King netted his second of the game as the Reds suffered their heaviest defeat of the season.
Redditch are next in action at home to St Ives Town on Saturday, February 11 with kick-off at 3pm at the Trico Stadium.
