Skipper Stuart Whitehead today rallied behind AFC Telford’s management team of Rob Smith and Larry Chambers, admitting: “We’ve let them down.”

Whitehead was disgusted by the team’s miserable performance in their 3-1 defeat at Redditch on Tuesday.

But he feels it is the players who should be taking the flak for the embarrassing drubbing – not Smith and Chambers.

“They don’t deserve a performance like the one we put out,” said Whitehead.

“They signed every one of us and have stuck by every one of us, and we repay them like that.

“It’s not right and we’ve all got to stand up and be counted now.”

Smith even questioned his own position in the aftermath of Tuesday’s defeat, asking his squad if a change of leadership was required.

But Whitehead insists the management duo retain the full support of the playing squad as they look to turn around their disappointing Blue Square North season.

“I can understand why he asked us that question because it obviously didn’t look like we were playing for him,” said the Bucks’ captain.

“But that’s not the case. We know we’re all playing for our futures and we have got to get it right sooner rather than later because we’re playing catch-up week-after-week.”

Whitehead admitted he was far from happy with his own display at Redditch – declaring that only one Telford player came out of the game with any credit.

“People have off days, it happens, but when 10 out of 11 players are well below what’s acceptable then it’s not good enough,” he added.

“Only one player came out with any credit and that was the goalkeeper (Ryan Young).”