Bethnal Green United shocked by Southend Manor defeat

Bethnal Green manager Justin Gardner had admitted he will be changing the personnel at the club after he was left shocked by his side's performance on Tuesday.

Goals from Marlon Boateng and Anton Stephenson were not enough as The Greens were beaten 3-2 by Southend Manor in their Essex Senior League Cup match.

Gardner's anger with his defence has reached boiling point and he has admitted he will now be looking to add to his squad.

"I was fuming at half-time and I was fuming at half-time because our defending was abysmal," he moaned.

"I was a defender myself and the mistakes they are making I cannot help them with as they are just schoolboy errors and I will have to bring in some more defenders now.

"It is so frustrating because going forward we are playing well."

United took the lead after 40 minutes when a long ball over the top was controlled and finished with aplomb by Boateng, but a terrible five minutes before the break left Gardner pulling his hair out.

Tamba Ngondo gave the ball in the centre of the park and Manor took full advantage with a good cross into the box which was finished well by the Southend striker.

Two minutes later Manor took the lead when Green failed to clear a cross from the right and the hosts made no mistake by burying the ball into the corner of the net.

It was 3-1 after 60 minutes when the East End club failed to deal with a long ball over the top and the Manor midfielder strode through unchallenged to place the ball into the net.

With 25 minutes left Green were given a lifeline when in-form striker Anton Stephenson tucked the ball away from close range and although both Boateng and Kadir Jama both hit the woodwork, Greens went down to a depressing defeat.

"It is annoying as although we were terrible defensively, we did not deserve to lose on the way we attacked, but that is the way it goes," Gardner said.

"I would not mind if we lost to a team that were better than us, I can handle that.