DEAN Whitehouse is calling on his young Dudley Town side to show how far they have come when they face top-of-the-table Black Country Rangers in the FA Vase this weekend.

Following back-to-back victories over Wellington and Cradley Town, The Robins’ spirits were on a high going into last Saturday’s trip to Wednesfield, but Town came back down to earth with a bang with a 2-0 defeat.

Whitehouse said his side got a ‘reality check’ after a positive few weeks, admitting: “We just didn’t turn up.

“We were poor all over the pitch and I don’t think we had more than two shots the entire game. I think it was just one of those days that you have to expect when you have such a young team.

“But Wednesfield are a good side and had a lot of decent experienced players in their line-up, but we were leggy and lacked any work rate. That’s what disappointed me the most.

“You expect 18/19-year-olds to be able to play two matches in a day and then still have enough energy to go and kick the ball about in the street, but they looked as though they all had a big night out on Friday, which is just not good enough.

“I was pleased with their attitude, but their work rate was shocking.

“Maybe after the last two matches some of the players thought they knew it all and that they could just turn up and win, but this league’s not like that and they’ll need to step up big time if they want to get anything from Black Country Rangers.”

Whitehouse heads into Saturday’s FA Vase tie without the services of Lewis Worsey who has signed for Lye Town, but the Robins have replaced him with Stourbridge wide-man Tom Edmonds-Hill on loan.

“This is one of the problems with having a young team,” Whitehouse added. “When one of the lads does well he will attract the bigger clubs. But good look to Lewis. He’s earnt his chance and we wish him well.

“One of the other things is that you don’t know what team you’re going to be getting from one game to another. But when we are on our game, we are a match for anyone in this league.

“They need to show their character and what they are about this weekend. Rangers are an exceptional team who we have twice over the next two weekends and these games will be a good chance to measure how far we have come as a team.

“We are definitely going to go for it and if any of the lads thinks they can go there and throw the towel in, then they won’t be a Dudley player for much longer.”

Between the two visits to Black Country Rangers, Town will host Malvern Town at York Road in a mid-week fixture on September 19.

Dudley Sports will also be in FA Vase second qualifying round action on Saturday as they host North West Counties side Hanley Town (3pm kick-off) at Hillcrest Avenue.

But boss Tony Gore will be hoping his players show more than they did at the weekend when his side were on the wrong end of a 5-0 score line at second-in-the-league Wolverhampton Casuals.