PAUL Carden offered an apology to Warrington Town’s travelling supporters following their 2-0 Boxing Day defeat at Southport.

And he says he felt the need to do so after slamming his side’s performance after half time as “nothing short of a disgrace.”

After an evenly-matched first half in which Town started well before the hosts slowly took control, Danny Lloyd’s strike eight minutes after the break gave Southport a lead they would never relinquish.

The visitors barely threatened a response before or after Sonny Hilton doubled the lead to bring them crashing back to earth after beating high-flying Buxton on Saturday.

The result meant Yellows passed up the chance to move further away from the National League North relegation zone and with fellow strugglers Marine visiting the Cal.Delivery Stadium on New Year’s Day, a victory in that game has become imperative.

More than 200 Town fans travelled to Haig Avenue to watch their side and Carden says they did not deserve to see what they saw from their side.

“We’ve got a training session before New Year’s Day and we have to look at it because that second half was nothing short of a disgrace, if I’m honest,” he said.

“I’m really not happy with the performance and that’s the strongest squad I’ve been able to select from.

“There’s fit players outside of the 16, which should be a massive boost for us all but on today’s performance, it was so far off it.

“If I was to make 11 changes, I don’t think anyone could knock on my door.

“We were poor for an hour, and it has probably been the best we’ve started for a while. We had a good shape about us, both wingers were high up the pitch and causing problems.

“Elliot (Morris) has had a couple of half-chances cutting in from the left, Joe Rodwell-Grant’s had a really good chance after a great move, but it was our own undoing.

“We lost our shape a little bit, allowed Southport through and we never really recovered or got back into that shape to stop that.

“Southport aren’t the most athletic team in the world, but they were running away from us which is massively disappointing considering the legs and energy we should have around the pitch.

“We’ve come away with nothing for the 236 of our fans that were here. They didn’t deserve that and I can only apologise for it because I’m a big part of that performance.

“We’ve got to be so much better – we can’t play like we did in that second half if we’re going to get points in this division.”

Key players such as Jay Harris, Connor Woods and Josh Amis returned to contention following injuries and suspension but perhaps unsurprisingly, Carden opted for the same starting XI that performed so well in beating Buxton 1-0 before Christmas.

And initially, it looked as though it would pay dividends as Town started brightly, with Rodwell-Grant denied a third goal in as many games by a good Chris Renshaw save.

However, old habits began to creep in and Yellows started to look more like the side that had gone 11 matches in all competitions without a win before Saturday.

“We coin the phrase “one step forward, two steps back” and that’s what it felt like today,” Carden said.

“The manner of the defeat made it feel like two steps back – you can take getting beat or a poor performance, but we’ve not laid a glove on Southport.

“For as many fouls as they’ve won, I don’t think we’ve put a meaningful tackle in.

“We’ve not worked their penalty area anywhere near enough, and that’s obviously what we need to keep ramming home and working on.

“We’ve gone with the same side that started against Buxton because we felt there was a good understanding there, but we were so far off it.

“That’s where we’re at and that’s why we’re fighting, because of inconsistencies.

“Both goals are a joke, really poor lapses of concentration and decision-making high up the pitch.

“We don’t coach or encourage it – it’s the opposite of what we’re trying to instil into players but you can’t legislate for that sometimes.

“Lads don’t go out to make mistakes, but they do happen and we’ve got a terrible habit of making them and they’re so costly.”