Walsham-le-Willows boss Paul Smith fired a volley across the bows of his players after he watched his side bow out of the FA Vase.

Smith’s team lost 4-1 to Haringey Borough at Summer Road on Saturday and the former Vase finalist was left far from amused.

“Did you know, we had just four players here for training this week?,” he said.

“Four players! Before a big game like this. I had all the excuses about being stuck at work and missing the train and all that.

“I didn’t say nothing before the match.

“But I have now. And I’ve told them they have left themselves wide open to this by not being at training – wide open.

“To me, it’s nothing to do with getting fit, it’s about team spirit, creating a bond. So many players today can’t seem to be bothered to do that.

“When I played, training was an opportunity to get things that went wrong on Saturday out of your system.

“But players today don’t seem to see things that way.”

As regards the game itself, Smith had no excuses.

“They were the better side, simple as that,” he said.

“The first goal was always going to be crucial. We found out a bit about them and were told if their heads go down they could start to argue among themselves.

“We didn’t get the first goal, they did, and they grew in confidence.

“We went three at the back and had to have a go and if we’d got an early goal in the second half, we could have put the jitters up them.

“The defeat is a blow for the club, both from a prestige and financial point of view.”

Meanwhile man-of-the-match Anthony McDonald of Haringey said: “It was a hard-fought match and we are very pleased with that result. I was starting to cramp up near the end, all that running. We want a good run in the Vase this year.”