ARDLEY United manager Paul Davis slammed his players for not working hard enough as they crashed to a 5-0 defeat at home to Flackwell Heath on Tuesday.

Carl Tappin and Ade Talabi were both sent off as Ardley slipped to their second defeat in a week, following an unbeaten start to their Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division campaign.

Tappin was shown a red card for deliberate handball after just ten minutes, while Talabi departed 20 minutes from time for a second bookable offence, as the hosts finished with just nine men.

Davis said: “We simply were not good enough in the first half, and were then forced to play the last 20 minutes with nine men against a team that will finish high in this division.

“But at the end of the day, I wanted to see players after the game being ill through the extra work rate they should have put in, covering extra space left void by those sent off.

“But that simply wasn’t the case in the dressing room after the game.

“So that tells me we haven’t worked hard enough on the night, and the result tells you that we weren’t good enough on the night.

“If we want to compete at the top of this league we have to go the rest of August unbeaten”.

Flackwell took the lead after just two minutes when Dan Molloy latched onto a long ball to slot home.

Seven minutes later, Dan Bayliss headed towards the Ardley goal and Tappin, standing by a post instinctively put an arm out to block the ball.

After Tappin was sent off, Dan Burnell made it 2-0 from the penalty spot.

Talabi and the visitors’ Mitchell Woodward were then both booked following a confrontation, before Burnell made it 3-0 inn the 23rd minute

Burnell completed his hat-trick in the second half, and after Talabi had received his second yellow card for handall, Jermaine Roche completed the scoring.

On Saturday, Ardley conceded their first goal in nearly 550 minutes of league football, when losing 1-0 away to Highmoor-Ibis.

The decisive strike came in the 89th minute of a tight game.

A corner from the Highmoor left saw Lee Farrow and substitute Yashwa Romeo mistime their jumps for the ball, which fell in the six-yard box and was bundled home by Danny Lingwood.

Ardley came close to opening the scoring just before half-time, but Talabi’s shot curled just wide, while after thhe break, Elias Katsoloudi had an effort cleared off the line

Highmoor had their chances too, with Jamie Piercy seeing a header hit a post, but it seemed set to finish scoreless before that dramatic late strike.

This Saturday, Ardley entertain Highworth Town in the preliminary round of the Emirates FA Cup.

The winners will be away to Eastbourne United or Newhaven in the first qualifying round on Saturday September 3.