JADED Bemerton Heath Harlequins conceded half-a-dozen goals at promotion-goers Winchester City in Wessex Premier as they slumped to their heaviest defeat of the season.

Harlequins had a major meltdown at Denplan City Ground as doubles from Warren Bentley and Geoffrey Dunn and goals from Liam Robinson and Dominic Cope dished out a 6-0 thrashing.

When manager Ian Chalk was asked about his side’s seventh straight defeat in all competitions, he said: “We were just outplayed.

“We’ve were missing too many key players. On Saturday we had no Graham Mankin, Neil Williams or Liam Hutchinson and it’s been like that since the start of the season. If you take that quality out of any side at our level you will struggle especially at a club like Bemerton where we have such a small squad.

“We are forced to play youngsters and players who are not ready at this standard to play so many consecutive games.”

Chalk was left content from his side’s work rate for the first 60 minutes but then said stamina and strength got the better of his inexperienced squad.

He added: “For an hour we are OK then fitness and strength take over and, with four or five players who are not physically able to cope with the Wessex league, you are bound to struggle. You can’t win many games with five or six players.

“At some point the club had to have a transition stage and this season is it.

“The problem you have is when you are as successful as we’ve been in recent years people expect that to go on forever and that’s just not the case and at some point we all get too old and lose enthusiasm or commitment. And, at these points in a club’s life, you have to re-evaluate your strategy and start again from scratch.”

The 49-year-old, in his eighth season in charge, recently announced he’d be stepping down as boss at the end of the season and he says a new manager is close to being hired.

“I know that the club are close to appointing a successor and beginning the rebuilding process for, hopefully, a successful future,” he said.