SHAUN Reid admits he was embarrassed with Warrington Town’s 4-1 defeat by Burscough on Tuesday night.
His side suffered their first defeat of the season against a Burscough side expected to be in the bottom half of the table this season, leaving Town with just five points from their opening four games, a far cry from the promotion chasing pace they were expecting to set.
After conceding inside the first 30 seconds, Town found themselves two down before the break, and then had midfielder Danny Ventre sent off in the second half.
Even after Ciaran Kilheeney had given hope of a comeback, the game was over barely two minutes later when the third went in before the hosts got their icing on the cake in injury time.
Speaking after the game, Reid said: “I’m disappointed and embarrassed.
“Going a goal down so early is always tough, but I’m certainly not happy with the attitude that we showed after that. The players didn’t stick together, they didn’t show the camaraderie I know they’ve got.
“I’ll take it, I’m the manager, they’re my players and I need to do something about it.
“I thought the penalty was harsh. I thought the red card was harsh, you’ve got to be careful on the football field with tackles but I thought he got the ball. The game’s tough enough with 11.
“I expect my players to have high standards and tonight they didn’t reach those standards.”
Warrington opened the season with a 2-2 draw at fellow promotion hopefuls Bamber Bridge, having come from two goals down in the final 10 minutes.
That was followed by a relatively routine 2-0 victory over Radcliffe Boro, although Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Farsley Celtic saw a subdued display.
Reid added: “They’ve been a bit edgy the last two games and I’m not sure why. It’s something I’ll put right. I’m not prepared to accept that.
“I’m not a fool. It’s a big job I’ve got at Warrington Town because there’s a lot of expectation and your judged on results, and on tonight’s result that’s poor.
“I’m embarrassed and so should the players be because we had a good few fans here and I feel for them because we’ve let them down.”
Reid and his side make a return to the FA Cup on Saturday when they travel to Abbey Hey for a Preliminary Round clash.
They have five rounds to navigate through if they wish to create a repeat of last season’s memorable FA Cup first round proper victory over Exeter City, which drew a sell-out crowd to Cantilever Park in front of the BBC TV cameras.
Warrington Town then travel to Trafford for a league fixture on Bank Holiday Monday.
