DARREN Byfield has hit out at his defence as Redditch United let a half-time lead at league leaders King’s Lynn Town slip through their hands.

The Reds went ahead in Saturday’s match courtesy of a 30-yard screamer from Ashley Sammons.

But two Michael Clunan penalties turned the tide with Cameron Norman sealing the spoils after debutant striker Stuart Fleetwood had been dismissed for a late lunge on Ryan Hawkins.

“I’m delighted with most of my team who gave their all in that game,” Byfield said. “King’s Lynn are a very strong side who have a lot of money behind them, so to go in with the lead at half time was great.

“But once again defensive errors have cost us dearly and I’ve had enough.

“I’ve spoken to the players concerned time and time again over the last few weeks but nothing has changed. It’s got to the point now when I can’t trust them not to switch off and I can’t have that. I’ve had their backs for long enough - there's no more excuses.

“You can accept conceding if a team strings 20 to 30 passes together and then scores with a rocket in the top corner, but not from general play and definitely not from our own throw-ins.

“I have belief in my strikers, my midfielders and my goalkeeper and I need defenders who I can trust to do the job.

“Over the next two weeks I will be looking at getting a few new players in, as we can’t keep making the same mistakes week after week. Something’s got to change.”

The Reds will be welcoming Gosport Borough to the TRICO on Saturday (3pm kick-off) hoping to get a confidence boost, as their opponents have only picked up four points all season and are rooted to the bottom of the Southern League Premier table.

Byfield added: “You can never take anything for granted in this league, as the moment you switch off teams will capitalise on it.

“Just because Gosport are bottom doesn’t mean they won’t be up for the match, they will be scrapping for every point they can get and we need to be prepared for that.

“We’ve got three home games in a row now and we need to start turning recent good performances into wins.

“That starts with learning how to close games out and play the full 90 minutes. At the moment we seem to be going at it full throttle in the first 10/20 minutes, take the lead and then end up conceding.

“The players are working hard – I can’t fault their effort – but we have to be more patient.”