ANDY Whing branded Solihull Moors second-half display against Southend United ‘absolutely rubbish’ after his side slipped to a 3-0 home defeat.
Moors trailed to Oli Coker’s first-half brace before Harry Cardwell sealed the points for the Shrimpers after the break at the ARMCO Arena.
And ahead of a crunch game against play-off rivals Barnet on Good Friday (March 29), Whing insists his side will produce a better performance despite missing a number of key players through injury.
Whing said: “I didn’t think the first half was a two-nil game, they were clinical, they had two chances and scored, if we score in the big moments it changes the game but we didn’t.
“I thought the second half was absolutely rubbish, it was probably a game too far for us, I didn’t like the set up, it was square pegs in round holes, I couldn’t really do anything from the bench.
“We’re short on numbers at the moment, it was a really tough evening, I hated every minute of it, it just didn’t look like us, to a man they were better than us, we looked tired.
“I listened to a podcast the other day that said we’re really organised, I felt a bit offended by that, as Roy Keane would say it’s our job to be organised, we looked like a team of individuals, I didn’t like it one bit.
“If we play like that [against Barnet] we’ll lose by six or seven, if we have the same team and same players, square pegs in round holes, we’ll be miles better, me included, for that game.”
Moors almost took the lead on 13 minutes when Jamey Osborne’s free-kick from 25-yards out deflected off the wall and came back off the crossbar.
However, despite dominating the opening quarter of the game, Moors fell behind on 23 minutes when Wesley Fonguck cut the ball back to Coker who finished from six-yards out.
And Coker doubled Southend’s lead on 37 minutes with a clinical finish into the top left corner after an excellent drive and pass from Marcus Dackers.
Southend completed the scoring on 66 minutes when Cardwell finished past Nick Hayes from a tight angle from Ollie Kensdale’s pass.
The result means Moors sit fifth in the National League table, four points clear of the chasing pack in the race for a play-off place.
Solihull host Barnet on Good Friday (March 29) with kick-off at 3pm at the ARMCO Arena.
