TIVERTON manager Leigh Robinson has apologised to supporters after the Yellows' tame exit from the Emirates FA Cup, calling the performance that saw them lose 3-0 at home to Wimborne "unacceptable".
Leigh also promised to make changes to address Tivvy's lacklustre start to the new Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South season, which has seen them pick up two points from their opening five games.
Wimborne scored twice in the first half of the first qualifying round game at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium, and any thoughts that Yellows had of a second-half fightback were extinguished by the visitors' third shortly after the break.
Speaking on behalf of the dressing-room, Leigh said: "What we saw was unacceptable; unquestionably, we let the club and the fans down and can only apologise for this.
"We actually went into the game pretty confident after a good performance on Monday, when we were unlucky not to win, and the team we had available. There was a genuine feeling that we were close to clicking.
"In no way did we go out to play like the way we did or put in the performance that we did, but goals change games and our confidence seems to be so fragile at the moment and we seem unable to cope mentally with going behind.
"We rolled the dice and made three positive substitutions at half-time to try and get back in the game. The talk was of getting on the front foot, scoring the next goal, and changing the momentum. But we conceded territory from our own kick-off after half time and the timing of the third goal knocked the stuffing out of us."
While there are mitigating factors for some of the results since the season kicked off four weeks previously, Leigh is not sheltering behind any excuses and is as determined as ever to bring back the good times to Ladysmead after a few fallow seasons, whatever that takes.
He said: "August has been a really bad month. The story of the month has been that there have been games where we’ve played poorly and deservedly got nothing and there have been games where we’ve played okay, but found a way not to win.
"What I would point out is that we are a team and a club in transition. We’ve a lot of new players trying to settle in and gel. That’s not always going to happen in the space of a month.
"We’ve had to chop and change a lot with injuries and people not in top condition, but, overall, it’s not been good enough - I’m not hiding away from that and changes will be made as you can’t keep doing the same things and expect it to change."
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