Harborough boss Austin hoping shock Trophy loss is 'a kick up the backside' for squad players
Harborough Town boss Mitch Austin is hoping Saturday's 5-2 FA Trophy humbling at Sporting Khalsa will act as a 'kick up the backside' for some of his players.
Ahead of next Saturday's huge FA Cup fourth qualifying round clash with Bury FC, Austin rotated his squad and made several changes for the clash against a Khalsa side that plays a level below the Bees in the non-League ladder.
But the in the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division side made light work of their supposednly superior opponents, with Austin admitting his team were 'beaten by the better side'.
Khalsa raced into a 2-0 lead before Amar Sadhu reduced the arrears, but the home side then went 4-1 up before Ben Stephens gave Harborough hope. only for a stoppage time strike to make it 5-2.
And Austin made it clear he was not happy with his side's performance, and was particularly frustrated at his players' apparent lack of application and desire.
"The Trophy gave us the opportunity to give a few lads minutes who needed them, rather than having them do that in league games," Austin told @HarbTownFC.
"It was also about challenging lads to see if they are good enough to play for us going forward.
"It was rotation, which was needed, and a few lads needed to catch my eye, and a few of them did that for the wrong reasons."
And he added: "We are not that good to be outrun and outworked and to lose the desire battle. We are good, but we are good when we are at it.
"So the disappointing thing was we lost the battle, the will to win, and I felt we lost it quite early as well.
"Khalsa wanted it more, and that is perhaps a kick up the backside for a few players.
"We have a big squad, so we try and keep everybody happy and emphasise we will need them at some point.
"But if they can't do it for me on days like Saturday then I have to start looking at where I am spending the club's money, and who deserves to be playing for somebody else."
Harborough now have a free week to prepare for Saturday's huge Cup clash with Bury, who stretched their unbeaten run this season to 20 games with a 5-1 win at Longridge Town on Saturday.
The all-ticket clash at the weekend is now a complete sell-out.