When Erith and Belvedere hosted Chatham Town in February, the visitors romped to victory in style.

This game was much closer with the hosts pushing the bookies favourites to win the league all the way but the Chats did enough to claim the three points. Despite starting the league campaign with a win, Chatham manager Scott Lindsey was far from happy.

“I think this is the worst performance put in by any team that I have ever coached.” He said. “It was very poor. I’m very disappointed. I can’t see us being that bad again. I think it will be almost impossible. It’s the first game of the season. We play poorly and win. You get three points so with that in mind, I’ll take it.”

Four days earlier, they played their opening F.A. Cup game. Lindsey said “We went down to East Preston and won two-nil and played really well. The scoreline probably flattered East Preston, it could have been a lot more. I was really pleased with that. It was good preparation for today’s game but then we turn up, we do okay in the first half and churn out a real poor performance in the second half.

“I put that down to players being anxious. I put that down to players making poor decisions. I put that down to the players not making the right choice of passing or the right choice of defending. I put that down to players being naive but we will learn from it and we will become a better team from it so it’s not all bad.”

Some important players were absent but Lindsey didn’t want to hide behind that. He said “I’ve got players who were injured and suspended. Jack Evans is suspended. Andy Pugh is injured. Dan Bradshaw’s suspended. Dan Ellis is injured. So I’ve got some players on the sidelines but that’s got nothing to do with anything today.

“I’ve picked a team more than capable of winning games at this level and probably the level above. I’m not going to use ‘I haven’t got a full strength side’ as an excuse because I can’t. The players that I used today are good enough to win at this level, and as I said the level above in my opinion.”

Having players suspended from a season in which all results were expunged didn’t please Lindsey. “It’s quite laughable really and ridiculous that the season can be null and void yet the suspensions carry over.” he said. “

It’s something that the F.A. need to look at, or whoever’s in charge needs to look at that. If the season’s null and void, the season’s null and void. No-one got promoted and no-one got relegated so why should suspensions get carried over? It’s a ridiculous state of affairs.”

Looking ahead, he said “Jack Evans is available for the next game, Dan Bradshaw has got one more game. Andy Pugh is probably a couple of weeks away and Dan Ellis is probably a couple of weeks away.”