Boss Rob Smith is ready to run his AFC Telford United side into the ground after seeing them slump to a second straight home league defeat.

The Bucks were beaten 3-2 by Hyde on Saturday, following on from the 1-0 reverse against Stafford on New Year’s Day. 

A late Terry Fearns goal seemed to have rescued a point but the visitors scored on the counter-attack to record their first win in 11 games. 

That was frustrating for Smith – though it was the manner of the performance rather than the result that really raised his heckles. 

“The party’s over for the lads now,” he declared. 

“We’ve had some nice training sessions where the balls have been out a lot, but I think we can put them away and get back to pounding the streets. 

“I’m not having more performances like that and I’ll have my pound of flesh out of them now. 

“They’ve got to understand that the minimum requirement is 90 minutes of effort. That’s all I ask for, and I don’t think I got it on Saturday. 

“Those players have let everybody down again, badly.” 

Telford had led at the break thanks to a terrific strike from Danny Carey-Bertram but let it slip in the second half thanks to a series of individual errors. 

Hyde scored twice in four minutes to go ahead then survived some sustained Telford pressure before the dramatic finale. 

“It was a shocking result,” added Smith. “It was disappointing that we had to wait until we were 2-1 down to show any heart and passion. 

“It was a pretty lacklustre first half and we gave away some sloppy goals. When you do that, you’re going to get beat. We gave it a good go at the end but it was too little, too late.”

Meanwhile, Smith revealed right-back Lee Vaughan missed the game due to his ongoing ankle injury – and is unlikely to be fit for tomorrow’s Setanta Shield clash with Kettering.

By CHRIS HUDSON