FC Telford United finally played their first game of 2010 this week.
But after a lacklustre 2-0 defeat to local rivals Stafford Rangers on Tuesday night they probably wished the snow had stayed.
Not even three new faces Aaron Brown, who started and Kevin O’Connor and Adam Dugdale - who didn’t - could help the Bucks produce a performance.
And it left boss Rob Smith admitting the pressure is on.
“We’ve had three weeks of really positive training and you think you’ve turned a corner, but that performance was as bad as I’ve seen,” said Smith.
“If we keep getting results like this then something is going to have to give, whether it be with myself or whether it be with the players we’ve got at the moment.
“Something has to give, and I fully understand that. There were no positives that came out of last night at all.
“If I don’t feel I can get anything out of the team then it’s not a case of quitting, but I don’t need 19 games of abuse – which is what I’d get if we carry on like we are.”
Smith gave a debut to defender Brown last night, though he does not expect the 26-year-old to stay with the club for long–with a deal at League Two side Accrington Stanley imminent.
Of his other new signings, former Wolves midfielder O’Connor came on inside the last quarter of an hour while loanee Dugdale from Barrow was an unused substitute.
“I thought Aaron was probably the best of a bad bunch out there,” said Smith.
“It’s difficult when you’ve only just met the players.
“We didn’t really complete the deal for Adam until the afternoon, so it was a bit short notice to bring him into the side. I wish I’d played him now, but hindsight’s a wonderful thing.
“And Kev – he hasn’t played any football for a long time so it’s difficult again.”
It was a ninth defeat of the season for Telford, who remain ninth in the Blue Square North and four points adrift of the play-off places – though having played more games than their rivals above them.
This time they lost to two shocking goals, the first a one-in-a-million freak and the second from slack work at a needlessly conceded corner.
It is difficult to pluck any positives from an evening that can only leave supporters wondering where the season goes from here.
And Smith made no excuses.
“It was a shocking performance,” he said.“We conceded two shocking goals, but they only summed up the performance. “We didn’t win a battle all over the pitch. We didn’t win anything up front and we looked shaky at the back.
“The first goal was freakish, but Stafford deserved it. If it wasn’t from that, they’d have had other chances.
“There’s no brushing it under the carpet–we looked like we’d had seven weeks off, not three.”
The Bucks had no cutting edge in the first half, and it was the hosts–with just two wins from 11 outings on their own patch before last night – who carried all the threat.
Levi Reid and Fabrice Kasiama both put decent opportunities wide, while Nick Wellecomme forced Ryan Young into a good save and Jon Patrick went close with a free-kick.
Hopes that the second half may see a turnaround were boosted as the Bucks upped their pace, Sean Newton firing one free kick wide then forcing Rangers keeper Lee Evans into his first save of the night with another.
But the flow of the game soon turned back in favour of Stafford, who finally took the lead their domination deserved with an outlandish goal on 64 minutes.
There should have been no danger as Young went to launch the ball forward, but he blasted it straight into Warwick Alexander’s back and could only watch helplessly as it rebounded in.
Young was the villain for the second as well, as he somehow contrived to concede a completely unnecessary corner. He then failed to claim Tom Thornley’s delivery, giving Wellecomme the chance to convert a powerful downward header at the far post. Smith introduced former Wolves man O’Connor for his debut late on, but that was about the only interest in a depressing final 10 minutes.
“We can’t keep on performing like that,” added the Bucks’ chief. “We can’t expect people to keep paying to watch us when we perform like that.”
“The Stafford manager Chris Brindley’s got a pittance of a budget but his team gave him everything. Our players turned up and gave us nothing.”
The Bucks travel to league leaders Soutport on Saturday.
