IAN Crane likened AFC Hayes to an under-fives team in the wake of their FA Cup preliminary round exit to Haringey Borough.
Steve Loveridge pulled one back after Hayes had gone two goals down but it was not enough to keep The Brook on the road to Wembley on Saturday.
Manager Crane could not hide his fury at the performance and was particularly disappointed with the manner in which the goals were conceded.
“It was absolutely awful,” Crane said. “The first two goals are embarrassing. It’s like an under-fives outfit. What my goalkeeper is doing for the second goal I haven’t got a clue.
“To come here and give two goals away in that manner and the way that we folded after letting the first one in and just letting them play is not good enough. The reason we lost was a lack of fight.”
Anthony McDonald, springing the offside trap, put Boro 1-0 up inside the opening 10 minutes.
He was played clean through on goal with a superbly weighted pass and made no mistake with only the keeper to beat.
The Haringey star had his second as the game approached the midway point of the first-half, when Ben Boulter failed to catch a simple Dean Fenton cross, leaving the winger with an empty goal to slot into.
Loveridge clawed one back for Hayes in the 44th minute after the ball was allowed to drop unchallenged on the edge of the area, finishing with a fine volley into the left-hand corner of the net that left Erbil Bozkurt with no chance of saving.
Hayes were due to be back in league action last night (Tuesday) when they entertained Beaconsfield SYCOB, however they were beaten 1-0 to keep Crane in a bad mood for the rest of the week.
Meanwhile, AFC Hayes’ new full-time academy is shaping up well and this month 20 students will start studying and training at the football club.
The youngsters will study an NVQ leading to a BTEC in sport, coaching and other related subjects and will obtain FA coaching qualifications over a two-year period.
Hayes continued their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur’s development squad, George Wakefield on target.
They followed that with a 2-1 win over Slough Town thanks to an Armani Wilkin strike and Alfie Lazar-Woodward’s Penalty.
The Brook youngsters start their Under 18s Allied Counties Youth League campaign at home to Brimsdown on Wednesday September 11.
Aspiring footballers who have just finished GCSEs and want to find out more about the academy are invited to contact director Dale Welch on afchayesacademy@gmail.com or 07950 399 652.
