TIM Flowers admits his Bromsgrove Sporting side suffered a first-half capitulation after losing 4-1 at home against local rivals Alvechurch in midweek.
Sporting conceded twice in the first 10 minutes as Zac Guinan and Jonathan Ngandu both struck to stun the home side at the Victoria Ground.
And Jez Abbey extended Church’s lead before the break only for George Wynne to reduce the deficit after the interval before Callum Sullivan completed the scoring.
The result sees Church leapfrog Sporting in the Southern League Premier Central table with Alvechurch 16th and the Rouslers 17th, both four points clear of the relegation zone.
And Flowers admits Sporting looked fragile throughout the heavy defeat which came as a shock to the Rouslers boss following a 1-1 draw away at Leiston last weekend.
Flowers said: “We were poor. I’m not going to throw anyone under the bus.
“From the get-go, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot and we’re two-nil down inside the opening minutes.
“We were absolutely miles off it. We were second to pretty much everything.
“They just looked sharper than us. It was a chastening night. We looked so fragile.
“The club have shipped goals for fun during the course of the season, of course there’s issues.
“That’s the first time since I’ve been here that I thought ‘wow’. It’s a huge capitulation which I didn’t see coming.
“The ghosts come floating in when there’s adversity, we’ve gone under and our defending as a team was shocking.”
Alvechurch boss Kyle Storer replaced current Sporting manager Flowers in the Lye Meadow hotseat earlier this season.
And Storer praised his side’s reaction after Church suffered a 3-0 defeat at league leaders Spalding United last weekend.
Storer said: “It’s fantastic to bounce back. To a man we were fantastic and managed the game well.
“We were excellent. I could single out individuals but as a team performance it was fantastic.
“Through the course of the season we haven’t responded well to setbacks.
“Results haven’t been good recently but I’ve been reasonably happy with the performances.
“We thoroughly deserved the three points.”
Bromsgrove host Worcester City on Saturday, February 21 with kick-off at 3pm at the Victoria Ground.
Church face another derby clash against Redditch United on Saturday, February 21 with kick-off at 3pm at Lye Meadow.
