Danny Rohl could not hide his disappointment and frustration with some of the squad after Wednesday’s poor run of form saw us make it six games without a win in a 2-0 defeat at Stoke this afternoon.
After a lifeless first-half display which lacked any intensity and a second 45 minutes which was only marginally better, Rohl told swfc.co.uk: “At the moment it is not good enough.
“For me there was again a big, big signal from some of the players that they are not good enough for the Championship.
“I normally protect my players but I cannot accept this any more.
“We said we wanted to finish with good faith but at the moment we are destroying our good faith from the last 18 months and this is really hard to take. We have been very successful together, it makes me really sad at the moment.”
On the positive side, Rohl praised the 3000-plus sellout Wednesday support and apologised for the team’s display, saying: “I thank our supporters, it was unbelievable to the end.
“We didn’t deserve it today but they showed a big, big character. Our fans are Premier League, of the highest standard and I apologise to them for this performance.”
As for the game itself, we looked second best from the start with relegation-threatened Stoke far the hungrier side and they took the lead on 21 minutes, Million Manhoef left unmarked at the far post to shoot home from close range.
We were lucky to escape further damage before half time, Dominic Iorfa deflecting one Stoke effort onto the bar, but we started the second half in more encouraging fashion.
Callum Paterson headed into the ground and over the bar with our first threat on 57 minutes before Djeidi Gassama saw his shot deflected wide soon afterwards.
However, soon after the hour-mark the game was all but over when we conceded a second goal in bizarre circumstances.
Pierce Charles collected a corner but when he attempted a quick drop kick clearance, the ball hit the back of retreating Stoke defender Ben Wilmot who was close by and rebounded into the net.
Wednesday did manage two late efforts from Michael Smith, his snapshot coming back off the inside of the post and then seeing his header bounce off the bar.
However, that was as good as it got for Wednesday on the day that, ironically, our Championship safety was mathematically ensured due to results elsewhere … the defeat leaving us in 15th place on 53 points with three games to play.
P Charles, Valery, Iorfa (Otegbayo 58), Famewo, Hatsuse (Johnson 46), S Charles, Ingelsson (Bannan 58), Armstrong (Valentin 70), Gassama (Smith 77), Windass, Paterson. Unused subs: Beadle, Kobacki, Musaba, McNeill.