Knight gets off to the worst possible start

Knight, who was joined in the dugout by new assistant manager Kev Barry, saw his side twice hit back to level at the break through new signings Dean Curtis and former Shepshed Dynamo, Rushall Olympic and Redditch striker Shane Benjamin.

However, goals in the 60th and 65th minute from Massey effectively settled the tie before the visitors added a fifth with a minute remaining.

Knight admitted his much-changed side ran out of steam in the second half, but felt they had more than matched Massey for the majority of the game.

“We started really well and we could have been three up inside the first 20 minutes,” said Knight.

“We tired late on as a lot of the players haven’t had much football. But if you look at the positives, we did well for 70 minutes and there wasn’t a lot in it but for two absolute screamers.”

Knight, who had planned to give himself a run-out in Tuesday’s postponed Birmingham County FA Midweek Floodlit Cup tie at Southam, says the changes will 
continue tomorrow when Racers entertain Triumph Athletic in the Coventry Telegraph Challenge Cup.

“There will be a lot of ins and outs and it will be like pre-season as I try and get a squad together.

“The structure of the squad is all over the place and I was amazed just how many strikers we’ve got.

“But I want to give everyone an opportunity so no one can say that I haven’t given them a fair crack of the whip.”

Knight is expected to feature for “at least 30 minutes” tomorrow, but Nick Ford will miss out after suffering a dead leg against Massey.