Ottery St Mary manager Dave Fairweather pulled no punches as his side let slip a 3-1 half-time lead before being held to a 3-3 draw in their Macron League Division Three meeting at Countess Wear.

The Otters chief said: “It’s all about attitude and I am afraid we saw what happens when you don’t get total commitment to training between matches, as we became very leggy and were ‘out on our feet’ around the hour mark.

“So, to me, it was little surprise that we ended up losing a healthy lead and ultimately had to settle for a point from a game we ought to have won comfortably.”

The Otters had led at the break thanks to goals from Corey Ringer, Connor Lovering and Tom Hayes. However, the home side scored two unanswered second-half goals to ensure honours ended even.

Fairweather said: “The problem lies very much with commitment. We did have a good pre-season up until the final two weeks and I believe we are now paying the price for that poor period and the fact that we are not getting a full complement at midweek training.

“As I have said before, it is in the midweek training session that we work on the things we need to do both individually and collectively and, at Countess Wear, we were not doing the basics as a group, and that is what was so disappointing.”

He continued: “I have no complaints with the result, but I am also very confident that we will ultimately sort this out. I am going to be loyal to the players that are loyal to us as a club. There is plenty of work going on behind the scenes at the football club to help us have everything in place to take the club forward and those players that are not prepared to commit to the same levels that both the chairman [Mike Ringer] and I adhere too, will simply not be on the journey with us!”

He rounded his thoughts off by saying: “The message to the lads is loud and clear and it is that if they don’t want to be part of what I believe are going to be good times with his club then they should seek the exit now as we are only interested in players who show the passion and desire – and most importantly – commitment – to share our vision.”

Tomorrow (Saturday) the Otters entertain Sandford (3pm) in a league game. Fairweather says: “We have had some right battles with them [Sandford] over the past few seasons and I am sure I will not need to remind the lads about the game at their place last season! It would be very nice to put one over them this time round!”

He continued: “After our strong words post match at Countess Wear, we actually had a great repsonse in our midweek training and were able to work on one or two things that we will put into practice tomorrow.”

Sunday sees the Ottery ladies also in action when they entertain Keyham Kolts (2pm). The Otterettes are still looking for a regular goalkeeper and anyone interested is asked to contact the club via their Facebook page, or get along to Sunday’s game and make themselves know.