Rob Smith is worried about Telford's Blue Square North play-off hopes

Telford boss Rob Smith has called into question his players' commitment after another away defeat, 1-0 at Farsley.

"It was shameful," Smith told BBC Radio Shropshire. "Eleven kids would have shown me more heart and passion.

"I know they're good enough, but there's something fundamentally wrong in their mental psyche if they put in a whimpering performance like that.

"It was unacceptable. We hardly had a shot, and three or four players didn't even fancy being on the pitch."

Telford have developed a reputation this season for winning their big matches, having beaten four Blue Square Premier teams in reaching the final of the Setanta Shield, the semi-finals of the FA Trophy and the first round proper of the FA Cup.

But, since Christmas, they have suffered Blue Square North defeats at Stafford Rangers, Fleetwood Town, Workington, Vauxhall Motors, Blyth Spartans and now Farsley - all teams in the bottom half when they played them.

"It's all well and good beating the top teams," said Smith. "But how many times have we been unable to beat the teams at the bottom?"

Farsley, who had only won two of their eight previous games in March, eased their relegation worries with a close-range effort from Damian Reeves, who exploited some defensive lethargy to score the only goal of the game on the half hour.

Telford now trail new leaders Tamworth, who won 1-0 at Southport, by 15 points.

And, with eight games left, they are four points clear of the pack chasing the play-offs.

Next up for Telford is another away trip on Saturday (4 April 1500 BST) to another bottom half team, Gainsborough Trinity. And Smith knows he needs an improvement on Tuesday night's efforts.

"The players need to stand up and be counted," said Smith. "We should make the play-offs - but we're not making it easy for ourselves."

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