Boss Rob Smith has told AFC Telford United’s under-performing players that their futures are on the line – whether he is manager next season or not.

The Bucks went down 1-0 at home to lowly Gloucester City in a desperately dull clash at the New Bucks Head yesterday afternoon.

And, despite their Blue Square North play-off hopes having all but disappeared, Smith insists that there could be no excuses for such a lifeless display.

“How am I going to keep some of them on if I stay next season after that?” he declared.

“To me, that just says that they don’t want to be here. How can I defend that?

“If they think a new manager is going to come in and keep them on the back of those performances, then they are wrong there as well.”

“I can handle the fact that we won’t make the play-offs,” he added.

“But I can’t handle performances like that because it’s not what we’re all about.”

Telford went down to a 13th minute strike from Gloucester left-back Jack Harris and rarely threatened to get back on level terms after that.

In front of a crowd of more than 1,500, an Adam Dugdale header which hit the woodwork was their only meaningful attack.

“We were never going to get a goal back because we didn’t look interested,” said Smith.

“It was so lifeless, and you just had the feeling that the players wanted the game over early on. It was just unbelievable.”

The Bucks were without right-back Lee Vaughan, who had completed a two-match suspension but missed out due to an ankle injury.

“He got injured in training on Thursday and he phoned me up on Sunday and said he wasn’t fit,” Smith revealed.

“But a 30 per cent fit Vaughany would have given me more than some of those players.”