IAN Britton blamed his players for letting themselves down after Saturday's disappointing defeat suffered by Kidderminster Harriers' nine men.

Harriers played poorly in the first half but were also hampered by the dismissal of Scott Stamps and then Sean Flynn in injury-time.

An angry Britton fumed: "The number of bookings and sendings off we are getting is a joke. The bookings we have had for dissent are an absolute disgrace because the players can't keep their gobs shut.

"That's something I'll have to sort out. We need people out on the pitch, not sitting in the stands.

"Carlisle were much quicker than us in the first half and, more importantly, they wanted it a lot more. I thought we might have learned from our defeat against Macclesfield but we haven't.

"Considering we had 10 men I thought we played well in the second half. We put them under pressure quite a bit but it was always going to be difficult because we were chasing the game.

"Hopefully, we can learn from it. Usually we have bounced back when we have had a defeat but too many players had an off-day."

Britton had no sympathy with Stamps for his red card for two quick bookings late in the first half.

He said: "Stamps has only got himself to blame. It was dissent for the first booking and then he was sent off for the tackle. It was his own fault and I have no time for that.

"I just thought the referee was poor throughout. With Carlisle's winner, some of the lads are saying it was offside but I'm not sure.

"And for Flynn's red card I didn't see a lot of what was going on. But then you never knew what the referee was going to do.

"At the end I think Stamps was remonstrating with the referee over some of his decisions but not with the way he was sent off as he deserved what he got."

Britton admitted he was not surprised when Harriers missed their late penalty but he did feel the players deserved more from the second half.

He added: "It's great when everything is going well and we are winning. But the players have got to take responsibility when they don't play so well and lose.

"They have let themselves down, not just result-wise but with the bookings and the sending-offs."