PICKERING TOWN boss Tony Hackworth admitted to “raging” after his side’s 3-1 defeat to Thackley and insists he won’t let his players coast through the remainder of the Northern Counties East League premier division campaign.

The Recreation Ground chief warned that both he and his squad were “playing for their futures” after they put in a performance he described as the worst of his short time in charge.

“I was more than a little bit disappointed,” Hackworth said. “I was raging.

“I can take us not playing the best but there was no fight. I let the the players know at half-time and after the game that it wasn’t good enough.

“It won’t happen again. We don’t want the season to just dwindle out. I won’t allow it to happen. Everyone is playing for their futures - me included - and we have got to start performing again as I know we can.

“If we had played that poorly against Shaw Lane up to half-time then we would have been six or seven down. We have got them, Tadcaster and Staveley coming up and the levels of performance can’t dip.”

Thackley were better from start to finish. They opened the scoring after 11 minutes when Doug Stevenson’s superb through ball sent Mike Garrod away - beating the Pikes offside trap - to run on and slot the ball past Toby Wells.

They had doubled their lead seven minutes later and it was a carbon copy of the first. Playmaker Stevenson set Garrod off again and he finished in precisely the same fashion to put Thackley 2-0 up.

Visiting keeper Edward Hall was finally worked shortly afterwards, keeping out Joe Danby’s drive from outside the area, and he did even better to save a cracking shot from Wayne Aziz immediately afterwards.

A timely tackle from the latter stopped Ryan Farrell putting Thackley 3-0 ahead and Robbie Hawkes saw a corner cleared off the line by Paul Whiteley with Hall floundering. It was the visitors, though, who continued to look like increasing their lead.

They continued to be in total command as the second half got under way. Garrod fired over the crossbar before he combined well with Cook to give Stevenson a great chance.

Wells was up to the task and Niall Tilsley had to stop Garrod from having another go at goal.

Given all that, it was Pickering who got back into the game on the hour mark.

Lewis Taylor’s corner found Aziz and he outjumped the defence to head home from 14 yards. They had hope but it was merely fleeting.

Farrell easily outpaced Chris Batchelor to feed Stevenson and he scored with an excellent shot on 67 minutes as Thackley restored their two-goal advantage.

Chances continued to come - Danby’s weak 12-yard shot was wide of the target and Wells was again called into action to stop another Stevenson blockbuster with 17 minutes remaining in the game.

Andrew Simpson later headed over the bar but Pickering limped through the rest of the contest in a poor performance.

Pickering: Wells, Belt, Batchelor, Patterson (Calvert 56), Tilsley, Aziz, Hawkes (Simpson 77), Cooper, Logan, Taylor (Ramm 60), Danby. Subs not used: Banks, Gibb.

Hackworth added he would now be looking to strengthen the squad between now and the start of pre-season, and he expected to make changes for the trip to Barton Town Old Boys on Saturday (3pm). They will be without Batchelor.

Said the manager: “It’s another tough game. We lost heavily to them at home in the league and then beat them 6-0 in the League Cup.

“We know if we play to our standards we can go there and try to get a result.”

The Pikes are in action again next Tuesday night at Nostell Miners Welfare (7.45pm).

• FORMER Pickering Town keeper Kevin Martin, who also played for Scarborough, is setting up a goalkeeping school for seven to 16-year-olds in Scarborough. Sessions cost £5. For more information, phone him on 07944 132732.