NEAL Ardley was forced to apologise to the travelling Solihull Moors fans after his side were thrashed 4-1 at Altrincham to extend their winless run to five matches.
Despite defender Mitchell Roberts scoring his first Moors goal, Tyrese Sinclair struck twice for Altrincham with further goals from Regan Linney and Jordan Hulme at Moss Lane.
Moors are now almost as many points away from the play-offs (nine) as they are above the relegation zone (10) and sit 13th in the National League table.
Ardley said: “I have to start by apologising to the fans, I’ve had to do that twice now this season and that’s not how it should be when people pay their hard-earned money to come and watch their team.
“I asked the boys to raise the level of intensity that they play at and we couldn’t have done more of the opposite if we tried in the first half.
“It’s difficult because I have to take full responsibility for the results but when you show a team what they’re going to face, how we deal with that and ask for more intensity, and the performance is as lucklustre as it was, it’s really tough to take.
“We’ve got to play with a lot more pride, aggression and heart than we have done and the baseline of our performances is so up and down that staff and players don’t know what they’re going to get.
“I’ve got to get this team to play with some pride, we’re going to have work hard, we’re not doing the least you would expect of any team in any game.”
The home side opened the scoring on 11 minutes when Sinclair lobbed the ball over Ryan Boot who was left stranded.
Moors drew level on 28 minutes as Roberts produced a sensational effort to catch Altrincham goalkeeper Ollie Byrne off his line from 40-yards out from the left touchline as the ball cannoned in off the post.
However, the hosts reclaimed the lead on 35 minutes when Sinclair placed the ball past Boot when one-on-one from Josh Lundstram’s excellent pass.
And Altrincham extended their lead on the stroke of half time when Linney was fouled by Callum Howe in the box and the same player picked himself up to send Boot the wrong way from the penalty spot.
The game was over as a contest on 55 minutes as Hulme completed the scoring when his flicked header at the near post found the top corner from Elliot Osborne’s corner.
Solihull are next in action at home to Maidstone United on Saturday, March 4 with kick-off at 3pm at the ARMCO Arena.
