It may be the season of good cheer, but Chatham Town Women manager Keith Boanas was far from cheerful when Mike Green spoke to him after the draw against Actonians on Sunday afternoon.

He told us, “It really has totally thrown me. I can’t even begin to diagnose what was going through the girls’ heads today,” Boanas shrugged.

“We had two good sessions in training this week which we all felt that we got a lot out of. We’d played well against Dulwich in the Cup the game before and we only changed one player but that turned out to be a massive miss and bigger than I thought it would be.  

“The Chats have lost twice to the West Londoners this season, once in the League and the other in the League Cup by the only goal both times.

“They were not as good as when they beat us earlier in the season.” bemoaned the coach, “and we already felt that we should have beaten them in both of those games, they were nowhere near that side today and they had a make shift keeper who we have not tested!” 

“Our biggest problem was in the attacking half, in the final third. We didn’t test the keeper – the only shot we had in the second half was one in anger right at the end. We haven’t been able to affect the game with people coming off the bench today either, we changed our minds on what changes we did make; it was difficult to make them as we had eleven players on the pitch not having the best of days!” 

“Defensively, I think the skipper (Grace Coombs) and (Ellie) Perkins did OK, keeper Simone wasn’t really tested, the full backs weren’t troubled but even at the back some of the decisions was scary to say the least – it’s just unexplainable on our pitch; we were scuffing passes, over hitting passes!

“We train on it so there should be no excuse to make those kinds of errors! First half in particular before the debacle happened was unforgiveable (an injury to the referee caused a thirty plus minute delay before the last five minutes of the first half was played).”

Boanas continued saying, “Its coming up to Christmas and I really don’t want to be too negative with them, but I told them in a message to the group Sunday morning, beat Actonians and then our two League games in January (away to fourth placed London Bees and then leaders Real Bedford at the Bauvill on January 12) one hundred percent we win the League!

“But now we have already dropped points, so does that angle change? With three Cup games now after the League games, January could now well and truly define our season, I really do believe if we had won today and then nick results against Bees and Bedford we do win the League.  

“A win today would have given us momentum going into Christmas which is what everyone wants!” 

“So, I am bitterly, bitterly disappointed today that we didn’t win, and they know it! They have been told to, when they get the video, to have a good long hard look at themselves and some of the decisions that they made, and hopefully they come back to me so that I am not thinking that it’s just me seeing it.

“It will be interesting to see if they are honest enough and open enough to look at themselves and that they can see what they did, because if you cannot see it, you cannot put it right. I know that I am asking for an awful lot of honesty from them.”