Carter slams ‘shambolic’ defending as Moneyfields are thrashed at Highworth

The visitors shot themselves in the foot, conceding three sloppy goals in the first half.

Though Ryan Pennery pulled a goal back five minutes after the restart, the hosts added more goals.

'Our defending was shambolic,' said Carter.

'Before the game I asked for a clean sheet and we ended up conceding five goals.

'Three of their goals came from set-pieces which is an area where defending is usually our forte.

'We had a couple of stonewall penalty claims turned down but that isn't why we lost.

'There is plenty of work for us to do

'It is time to pull ourselves together and try to regain some of our confidence.'

The visitors felt they should have had a penalty after just two minutes when Penney appeared to be tripped when he was clean through, but appeals fell on deaf ears.

Moneyfields were still licking their wounds after that when Highworth hit them with two quickfire goals.

'They got past us far too easily,' said Carter.

Losing experienced defender Brett Poate to injury after 15 minutes didn't help matters.

A third home goal nine minutes before the break left the visitors with a mountain to climb.

'We read the riot act at half-time,' said Carter.

'For the next 15 minutes it was back to normal and we got ourselves back into it.

'Then more sloppy defending finished us off.'

Penney gave them brief hope with a good finish at the start of the second half.

That was soon extinguished, however, when they conceded twice in a five minute spell - Edjidga Mbunga completing a hat-trick.

The one big positive for the manager was the encouraging performance from debutant Miles Everett, who started up front with Pennery.

'We have now got to prepare ourselves for two tough home games,' said Carter. 'We don't want to slip any lower in the league.'

Leaders Frome Town visit Dover Road next Saturday and that is followed by a Portsmouth-Southampton derby against Sholing at the same venue the following Tuesday.