Rangers boss takes flak for cup exit

Stafford Rangers manager Greg Clowes today took the flak for the club's FA Cup exit as the dust settled on the Stratford debacle.

The draw for the third qualifying round took place yesterday without Rangers in the hat, after their 4-2 defeat against Midland Alliance minnows Stratford at Marston Road on Saturday.

Clowes tore into his players after the game after all four goals were conceded in the second-half, declaring the team should be "ashamed of themselves" and "don't deserve a penny" of their wages.

The Rangers boss was calmer in the aftermath and is prepared to accept his portion of the blame, before the squad return to training tonight.

He said: "I will take responsibility for it, I pick the side and you stand and fall by your decisions.

"But the players have got to start taking a bit of responsibility themselves, because there's not much I can do when they cross that white line.

"I will always back the team because, if the manager doesn't back the team, there's something wrong.

"I am a firm believer that if you keep shouting at people and verbally hitting people with things, all of a sudden it's going to come back t0 bite you.

"I have worked with this group of players for a long time, albeit at a lower level, and I am hoping that they are thinking about how they have let themselves down.

"I think, sometimes, right after the game is the wrong time to answer questions and make statements.

"But, once you have settled down, the fact doesn't go away that we have been knocked out of the FA Cup by a very poor side.

"So what does that makes us?"

Clowes has told his players to expect hard work tonight, where the players will be banned from using balls in favour of tough and physical exercises.

"The balls won't be coming out at Marston Road tonight, they have got two hours of hard graft to look forward to, although I don't call it a punishment.

"If they are going to chuck in a second-half performance like that on Saturday, getting the ball is certainly not going to make a difference."