Brady Stone has challenged his Ely City players to show more fight after a second-half capitulation sent them to a 2-0 defeat to Godmanchester Rovers last night.

The Robins had the better of the chances in the first period and arguably should have gone into the break a goal to the good but collapsed in the second half and slipped to their third defeat of the season courtesy of a Jack Chandler double.

“We played some excellent football in the first half but didn’t take our chances,” boss Stone said.

“But the second half performance was shocking. They showed more fight and wanted the points more than us.

“We couldn’t get any passing going and they came out and pressed and we hid. The first goal knocked everything out of us and I don’t know why because we played really well in the first half.”

Stone also admitted that he could be forced to shake up his squad in order to achieve more positive results.

“We have too many passengers at minute,” he said.

“We have a bigger squad now so I’m not afraid to get rid and bring in different players that want to fight.

“The mentality needs to be better. I can’t put my finger on what’s going wrong but it something needs to change.

“We have a squad full of footballers but none of them want to fight at the minute.”

Stone will hope to bounce back from their disappointing defeat this Saturday on their trip to one of the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division’s strugglers – Wivenhoe Town (3pm KO).

The Essex side are currently second-from-bottom in the standings having won just one game so far this term, but Stone has warned his players to not go into the clash showing any complacency.

“It’s definitely a game I’m expecting to win but I said the same before the Swaffham game (Ely lost 2-1 on August 29).

“Wivenhoe is always a tough place to go. We went there last season, they had a player sent off but still managed to get a 1-1 draw.

“I’ll have a look at the squad but I’ll be making four or five changes because we can’t afford to slip up.”