RED-FACED Newport IoW boss Steve Tate branded his side "totally gutless" after last night's shameful 7-1 surrender to Tiverton Town in the Dr Martens League Cup at St George's Park.

After acquitting themselves well to hold the Premier Division side to a 1-0 half-time lead, the Islanders collapsed into what Tate described as "a pitiful shambles" after the inter- val.

The result was all the more painful, arriving as it did on the back of a recent revival by the Islanders, who had knocked out another Premier outfit, Weymouth, in the last round.

By the time Ashley Wright netted an 85th-minute consolation for the Eastern Division side, Tate had stopped watching.

He fumed: "Most of the players looked like they didn't want to be out there and I was ashamed to be their manager.

"Take nothing away from Tiverton, they wanted to do the yards in the second half, but too many of my players know they're going to get picked week in, week out and they just lay down and died.

"I don't know who got our goal. I was afraid to watch by then.

"It wasn't so much the losing heavily, it was the manner in which we conceded the goals.

"We just let people walk past us and didn't put in a meaningful tackle the whole game.

"We were totally gutless and it'll be interesting to see who picks up the phone in the morning and apologises."

What Tate wouldn't give for the 'problems' of his Salisbury City counterpart Nick Holmes right now!

The Whites pulled a point clear at the Eastern Division summit last night with a 0-0 home stalemate against Rothwell.

Holmes, though, was a deeply discontented man as the Midlanders became only the second side this season to escape with a point from the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.

But for a couple of good saves by Kevin Sawyer from Carl Lake and Danny Porter, Whites could have fallen into early arrears against a resilient Rothwell side.

The league leaders stepped it up after the interval, but could not break the visitors down despite efforts from Adam Wallace, Joss Thomas and Wayne Turk.

Having returned with seven points out of nine from a week on the road, Holmes was disappointed with a crowd of 393 for Whites' homecoming - and his mood was not enhanced by his team's performance.

He warned: "Some of our players weren't at the races tonight.

"I've told them that if they don't want to achieve what I want to achieve, then they shouldn't be here."

Basingstoke Town were also below par in their 3-1 Ryman Bryco League Cup exit at Bishop's Stortford.

Although Neville Roach undid the damage of an early penalty conceded by Steve Hemmings, second-best Stoke were punished twice after the break.