Two goals in three second half minutes helped Bearsted to victory after going in behind at in-form Erith Town.

As disappointed as Adam Woodward, the Dockers’ manager, was he was quick to admit that the better team won. “Fair play to Bearsted.” he said “They deserved the three points. I don’t think I’ve seen an attacking forward line as good as that this season.

“I’m a little bit disappointed. We’ve come in one-nil up (at half time). I thought to be fair on the balance of play, we didn’t deserve to be one-nil up but our goalkeeper hasn’t had anything to do the whole game and we look at the goals that we gave them individually. The first one, we’ve rolled it out to the right back when he’s in no position to receive the ball and we’ve been punished.

“And the second one, we haven’t squeezed up quick enough and the man has turned and run at us. That’s two mistakes by us but I’ll take nothing away from Bearsted, at times it was men against boys. They’re a very, very good side.”

However, immediately after the half time break, Steadman Callender got in behind the Bearsted defence only to be thwarted by a fantastic save by Scott Andrews. “They’re fine margins and this is what I try and say to people.” said Woodward. “Steadman Callender’s gone through and if it goes in it’s two-nil and it’s game over but the goalkeeper’s made a great save.

“In my opinion, he is one of the best goalkeepers in the league, if not the best. The other night at Welling (United) the goalkeeper made a save and it bounced in. Today it hasn’t bounced in. That’s just fine margins in football.”

Erith goalkeeper, Adam Molloy, missed his first game of the season through injury. Woodward explained “Adam got a bit of a knock at Welling when he went up and landed on top of his head. It was precautionary. We had to keep him out today but I thought Tommy (Taylor) did well. His distribution was good but really he wasn’t tested all game.”

Former Charlton Athletic and Millwall player Jamie Stuart also dropped out following their cup victory at Welling United. Woodward explained “Jack (Clark) came back in. We brought Jack Bingham into the squad. He came on and I thought he did well. Hopefully we’ll have a few more back on Tuesday (at Fisher in the league cup) but the team that I put out today should have won this game of football. When we make mistakes we’re going to be punished. Today, we made more mistakes than them and that’s why they won.”

The way the season started frustrated Woodward but their form in October which ended him being names SCEFL manager of the month showed what his team can do. “I want to win every game I’m in.” he said. “The squad I’ve got, in my opinion, should be winning the league. That might be a bold statement, and our position at the moment isn’t great, but we had a little bit of a sticky patch and we’ve turned a bit of a corner.

“I want to be winning this league. There’s no point being in it and say ‘Oh, we want to finish mid-table.’ Sixth last season was a massive achievement. This season, I’ve been backed by the club. I’ve got the players I wanted so now they need to step up and I expect us to really push on.”

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.