'Embarrassed' Lavery promises fans a very different Poppies team next season

And he made a pledge to the disappointed Poppies supporters that they will not have to endure performances like that next season.

Kettering went into the game as favourites as they play a level above Diamonds, but they were beaten 4-2 in a penalty shootout after drawing 0-0 with a side that finished in the bottom two of the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division.

Aside from a late rally that saw the Poppies force Rushden keeper Ben Heath into two excellent saves, they barely laid a glove on Diamonds in an uninspired performance.

And Lavery wasn't prepared to mince his words afterwards, insisting that many of the players in the red and black on Tuesday will not be at the club next season.

"I don't think the Kettering fans should be concerned at seeing that performance, because that will not happen next year," said Lavery.

"I said it before that when I got the club safe I knew I would have to rebuild, and Tuesday just tells me I have to rebuild more than I thought I had to.

"So I will rebuild, and that performance will not happen next season, and I would like to apologise to the Kettering fans for it.

"We didn't play football at all, we didn't start the game, we didn't so one thing good all night and I am embarrassed."

Lavery previously managed a Quorn side that thumped Diamonds 5-0 and 7-1 in the league this season, and he was not impressed at all with the Poppies' efforts.

"There is not one player that has come out of the game with any credit," he said.

"Adi (Yussuf) has come on and done okay, I thought Tom Scott for 15 or 20 minutes did okay, but okay is not what we need, it's far from what we need.

"Rushden have just been relegated from step 4 and they looked fitter, and they looked hungrier than us, and I can't put my name to a team like that.

"I have just told wherever they go next, if they go to another club, they have got to get themselves fit.

"If you want to be a footballer at a good level, then you have to be fit, and some of those players in that dressing room are not fit."

Interview by Peter Short