DISAPPOINTED Shawbury United boss Dave Worthington admitted his team was second-best to West Midlands League side Wellington at the weekend.

The Herefordshire village outfit ran out 4-2 winners to send Shawbury crashing out of the FA Vase and leave the manager wondering if he had ever seen a worse display from his players.

“We just weren’t at the races from the first whistle,” Worthington said. “I don’t know what was wrong – maybe they just underestimated the opposition because they were from the league below.

“But whatever it was, that was probably the worst display I’ve seen from a Shawbury side – not just in my eight years as manager but in all my time involved with the club.

“We scored a goal against the run of the play in the first half but would have been two-down before that had Jack Atkinson not pulled off two good saves.

“Once they equalised at the start of the second half we fell to pieces.”

Shawbury’s opener came ten minutes before half-time. Liam Armstrong’s corner picked out centre-half Owen Lloyd who scored with a close-range header.

Wellington were back on level terms two minutes into the second period when Jack Lewis was left unmarked at the far post at a free-kick and he gave Atkinson no chance.

From then on it was one-way with the visitors soon adding two more in quick succession.

Brendan Hackett made it 2-1 on 53 minutes when his shot was deflected past the Shawbury keeper before Josh Hunt added a third less than a minute later.

The Midland Football League hosts introduced substitutes Tom Worthington, William Wells and Matthew Ballard and they were thrown a lifeline midway through the half when a well-struck long-range effort from Armstrong crashed against the bar before Ben Cullen tucked away the rebound from a tight angle.

But any hopes of Shawbury netting a third to claim a replay were dashed just eight minutes later when Paul Jones was allowed too much space and unleashed a screamer into the top corner of Atkinson’s goal.

Worthington added: “It’s frustrating because we played well against Highgate in the week even though we lost 1-0. We battled and looked solid.

“We always knew it was going to be a difficult league but we need to regroup and galvanise.”

Shawbury were due to play host to Stourport Swifts last night {WED] before heading to Sporting Khalsa on Saturday when the manager will again be without the experienced Mark Stallard.

“Mark has missed the last couple of games through injury and is a loss for us,” Worthington added. “And with games coming up against Khalsa in the league and then in the cup, things don’t get any easier.”