MANAGER Roger Herridge accused his players of “showing a real lack of desire” after seeing them crash 5-2 to Reading City in their Hellenic League Premier Division match at Hill Farm Lane on Monday, writes Dave Wright.

Having been gifted an early own goal, the Moles led 2-1 at half-time, but they conceded a second goal just moments into the second half and, after that, their performance deteriorated to what Herridge described as an “unacceptable” level.

To make matters worse, they were up against 10 men for the last 20 minutes following a red card, but they were still outplayed by a slick City side for whom Mitchell Parker was the stand-out performer.

The striker, who played pre-season games for Bracknell Town before returning to Reading, scored four goals and set up the other.

A shocked Herridge said: “I don’t get angry very often, but I am certainly angry after what I have seen in the second half.

“The first half was end-to-end, but I thought we just shaded it. We created a number of good chances and got our noses in front.

“When you come out 2-1 up, you know the opposition are going to have a go at you, but in the first minute we gave away a sloppy pass, were beaten for pace and it’s 2-2.

“What followed, just wasn’t good enough. We were out-thought, out-muscled and out-played.

“There was a real lack of desire, in fact, a real lack of everything in the second half.

“I saw things in my players I never thought I would see and they got what they deserved – a thumping. Even when they went down to 10 men we never took the initiative.

“It was very disappointing, particularly as we have had some good results recently and made progress in the FA Cup and FA Vase. But we won’t be making any further progress if we play like we did in the second half.

“As good as we were in the first half, the second half was inexcusable. In all honesty, six, seven or eight of my players need to look at themselves because they let themselves down.

“There was a real lack of care when we got the ball and I can’t remember us winning a 50-50 challenge.

“They (City) wanted it more than we did and they showed more quality than us. Based on that, we have a real soft underbelly.”

Herridge continued: “Mitchell Parker is a great player running with the ball, and I never saw anyone tackling him.

“Football is a physical game and you have to be competitive and have to tackle, but I had players out there who didn’t appear to want to tackle.”

The manager exonerated keeper Chris Grace from his criticism as he had no chance with any of the goals and but for him the defeat would have been even heavier.

He commented: “They are all great lads here and I think the world of them, but they were not good enough and they need a good, hard look at themselves.

“Some will be left disappointed on Saturday as they will not be in the starting 11, but it is my job to improve things so there will be changes – 100 per cent.”

The Moles are home to Western League Premier Division club Buckland Athletic, who knocked Southern League side Mangotsfield out of the FA Cup two weeks ago.

Herridge told the News on Monday: “If they were here watching us tonight, they must be thinking there will be £6,000 (from FA prize fund) going into their bank account on Saturday night.

“It’s up to me to do what I can to make sure we are stronger so there is no repeat of our second-half performance.

“What I hope for, is a real positive reaction from my players as I am sure they would like to go further in the FA Cup.”

Leading scorer Ian Davies, nursing a groin injury, will miss out after limping off in the first 10 minutes on Monday.