Ball 'furious' after Torquay's Billericay loss
· Yahoo Sports
Torquay United manager Jimmy Ball has slammed his side's efforts after their 3-0 loss at Billericay Town in National League South.
The result ended a three-game undefeated run in the league and saw the Gulls slip to 13th with three wins and three losses from their opening 10 matches.
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"I'm furious," Ball told BBC Radio Devon.
"I'm angry with performances and players and extremely frustrated with what we've just put out on the pitch.
"I think we've been quite good last three four games and then that was a total regression of where I thought we'd got the group to."
Macauley Bonne gave the hosts a fourth-minute lead against a Torquay side that had crushed AFC Stoneham 6-1 in the FA Cup a week earlier.
Callum Watts volleyed the Essex side into a 2-0 lead just before the half-hour mark and Jon Benton's deflected goal with 20 minutes left made the game safe.
Ball came to face an angry away end after the game as last season's beaten play-off finalists slipped six points behind leaders Maidstone United and four behind the final play-off place.
"I understand it absolutely," added Ball.
"They earn the right to say the things they say to me, but I can't force men to run.
"I can ask them to run and encourage them to run and tell them how important this is and don't let people down.
"But they have to then go and run and fight and do the hard things in football and they chose today not to do that."
'They've got to be men enough to handle the truth'
Jimmy Ball was appointed Torquay manager in March [Shutterstock]It adds more pressure to the Torquay boss after missing out on promotion last season after a dramatic late loss at Hornchurch in the play-off final.
Ball took over in March after Paul Wotton was sacked following a poor run of results and having got so close to promotion many tipped the Gulls to be at the right end of the table this season.
The Torquay boss says he will not mince his words when he goes through the game with his players, who he felt let him down.
"I've got to tell them the truth and be men enough to be angry about their performance today, and men enough to do something about it and men enough to not let another man run past you, men enough to not let another man out-tackle you and out-fight you and out-muscle you," he added.
"They've got to be men, that's what I'm going to ask of them, go and be men, put in a performance that our fans deserve because they travel unbelievably, and show a bit of character, do more.
"If they're not motivated to run around then I'll have to change them, simple as that. There's the motivation because there was nothing there today that I could motivate from.
"I'll be honest, I'll tell the truth and they'll have to be men, that's what football demands, men on a football pitch, so they've got to go and be men this week."