Paulsgrove boss fumes after ‘worst performance in my five years at the club’ at Bush Hill

Craig Ralph had fired the visitors ahead inside three minutes, but that was as good as it got with Hill running out 5-1 winners.

It was the manner in which his team went down that infuriated Grant the most.

He saw a lack of 'heart, desire and fight' from his players - admitting he would have made '11 substitutions' given the opportunity.

‘We weren’t at the races,' bemoaned Grant. ‘It was the worst performance I’ve seen from us in my five years at Paulsgrove.

‘We were that bad.

'We had a few players missing, but we just had no heart or desire.

‘Being a game of Portsmouth against Southampton, we just had no fight in us.

‘It was a strange feeling. If I had 11 subs I would have made them.'

Paulsgrove took the lead when Ralph capitalised on a defensive mistake.

But five unanswered goals - two of which came from the penalty spot - ensured the hosts kept up their title challenge.

Mark Barker scored twice for Bush, as he had done when the reigning HPL champions won 3-1 at Marsden Road earlier in the season. In all, Barker now has 28 goals from 19 league and cup outings in 2019/20 – and as astonishing 90 goals from just 51 appearances since the start of last term!

Things don't get any easier for Grant's second-placed side, as they host table-toppers Infinity on Saturday.

‘That will be the motivation for us now (to be the first team to beat Infinity in the league),’ said Grant.

‘Danny (Thompson, Infinity manager) is a good friend of mine but I’d still like to get one over on him.'

Bush Hill, meanwhile, can cut the gap on Infinity to 12 points - and still with three games in hand - if they win at Hayling on Tuesday night.

The Humbugs, though, have won their last six league games. In all, they are unbeaten in seven HPL games since a 1-0 loss at Paulsgrove in mid-November.