Furious Hogges coach Kyle Lightbourne accused his under-performing players of letting him down and seriously questioned their commitment, desire and pride after their horror show against Richmond Kickers.

During an uncharacteristic outburst Lightbourne admitted to being completely embarrassed by his side's shambolic display, which saw them meekly surrender seven goals in front of their home supporters.

Lightbourne, who rarely criticises his players in public, also lifted the lid on the disturbing lack of numbers attending training and revealed only nine of the Hogges' 26-man squad bothered to turn up to the final session before yesterday's match at the National Sports Centre.

In an exclusive interview with The Royal Gazette he reminded his players 'that they gladly pick up a Hogges' paycheck and in return must start to act in a professional manner, both on and off the pitch'.

"These players are being paid to play football and must stop giving us silly excuses about why they can't train or can't play," said Lightbourne.

"Me and Shaun (Goater) turn up to training and we expect our players to do the same.

"On Saturday just nine players bothered to show up to training – that's just not good enough.

"We pay these players to come to training.

"If they can go out and party then they can come to training.

"It's easy to go to a party but it seems like it's too much hard work to come and train.

"I've never quit anything in my life so I'm not about to just ... Me, Shaun and Paul (Scope) have put so much into this and worked so hard – it's very disappointing."

The Hogges' worrying tendency to 'throw in the towel' as soon as they fall behind is showing no signs of abating with the team conceding a staggering 12-goals in their last two games.

Lightbourne conceded he is concerned about the mental fragility of his players after watching them "fold like a deck of cards", with the Hogges leaking four goals in just five first-half minutes against the Kickers.

"It's very disappointing to be defeated at home like this and we folded like a deck of cards," said Lightbourne whose team were beaten 5-1 by Wilmington Hammerheads on Thursday night.

"We're so vulnerable after conceding and we still don't know how to stay in the game. We've got good enough players to deal with any team in this league and shouldn't be getting beaten easily like this.

"After 25-minutes it was an even contest but as soon as we conceded the players' heads dropped and before you know it's four nil.

"Some of the goals we conceded today were an absolute joke," he added.

There was little between the two sides before Omar Shakir needlessly committed a foul in a dangerous area with Mike Burke curling the ensuing free-kick into the net on 31 minutes.

A minute later the Kickers doubled their lead when goalkeeper Timmy Figureido inexplicably allowed Sasha Gorres' tame shot from outside the box to squirm under his body.

On 34 minutes Luke Vercollone tapped home from close range and then David Bulow made it three by beating Figureido at the near post.

In first-half stoppage time, Bulow was on target again making it five-nil, scrambling a header over the line, despite being surrounded by several Hogges' defenders.

By now the game had gone beyond being a damage limitation exercise for the Hogges and the second-half started in the same vein with Bulow making it six-nil, for his hat-trick, when he outpaced Shakir and beat an advancing Figureido.

Lightbourne made a trio of substitutions and the Hogges at least seemed to regain some composure with Aljame Zuill dispatching a 78th minute penalty after he was fouled by Adam Chevez.

But the Kickers didn't have to wait long before they were back in the goals with player/coach, Leigh Cowlishaw, on as a substitute for Kelvin Jones, getting in on the act making it seven when he received a pass from Bulow and beat Figureido from close range.