Clyst Rovers 6, Bradford Town 0
DEFIANT Mark Hodkinson says he won't quit Bradford Town after his struggling side were smashed for six in Devon.
Hodkinson apologised to chairman Les Stevens on Saturday night after Bradford crumbled to an eighth consecutive defeat.
The Trowbridge Road boss admits he is under pressure to deliver results after this humiliating defeat at the hands of lowly Clyst Rovers.
The home side had scored just nine goals in ten league matches before the visit of Bradford, highlighting the extent of the problem facing Hodkinson and his assistant Andy O'Pray.
"I'm not sure what the chairman thinks of it all," said Hodkinson.
"He might think this defeat is down to me and that might be that. I apologised on behalf of the players. He will now go away and decide where we go from here.
"I have no intention of quitting. Myself and Andy have put too much hard work in here to just walk away."
Hodkinson labelled Saturday's performance "awful" as Bradford were blown away at a windy Waterslade Park.
The visitors started brightly but heads soon dropped after Alex Warren fired Clyst into a 25th minute lead.
A Tim Cridland brace made it 3-0 to the home side before Paul Harrison put the game beyond Bradford on the stroke of half-time.
Cridland completed his hat-trick after 50 minutes and Jamie Chamberlain rubbed salt into the wounds with a sixth goal before the final whistle.
"We've not played too badly in previous weeks but Saturday was just a disgrace," said Hodkinson afterwards.
"The players didn't apply themselves and they didn't do anything we told them to do.
"Clyst were not a bad side, they had one or two decent players. But you could see the confidence growing in their players and draining out of our lads.
"Things can't carry on like this - it's just not good enough," he said.
Hodkinson has threatened to replace his senior players with members of the reserve team in a bid to inject some fighting spirit into the squad.
Even with former Biddestone defender Paul Ranger on board, Hodkinson and Bradford are facing up to the prospect of a season-long relegation battle.
He said: "I don't think some of the players realise what's at stake here. If we get relegated to the Wiltshire League the plans to redevelop the ground could be shelved.
"I'm not going to see us relegated. I will fight to the bitter end to make sure this club does not go down.
"If that means bringing in a few new faces to get a win then I will do it. Even if the reserve team players are not quite ready for Western League football, at least I know they will give me 100 per cent."
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