Punjab United 1-1 Bearsted - In the scheme of things, I think both teams should be really happy with a point because we were both poor - a point was a Christmas gift to both, says Punjab United boss Chipie Sian

Punjab United 1 – 1 Bearsted
Location	Elite Venue, Dunkirk Close, Gravesend, Kent DA12 5ND
Kickoff	20/12/2025 15:00

PUNJAB UNITED  1-1  BEARSTED
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 20 December 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Elite Venue

PUNJAB UNITED manager Jugjit Sian admitted his side played like a Sunday League team after delivering an awful brand of THROW ball and launching the ball in the air for most of this poor 98 minute stalemate against fellow play-off chasing side Bearsted.

Both sides went into this game on a five-match unbeaten run and Bearsted manager Kevin Stevens made four chances to his side that beat Rusthall 2-1 last weekend and ditched their usual pretty brand of passing football to compete with Punjab United’s direct approach.

It was a surprise when two wingers got on the scoresheet, however, with Bearsted grabbing their lead with only their second shot on target, as Samuel Stace calmy slotted in his third goal of the season.

Punjab United converted their fifth shot on target – naturally it came from a long-throw – as William Johnson-Cole clinically hooked in a half-volley to score his ninth goal of the season, with four minutes remaining.

If you decided to miss this ninth-tier Southern Counties East Football League slug-fest to do your Christmas shopping, you made the correct choice as the crowd of 153 people were subjected to an awful game of football, if you can call it that!

“I think it was quite poor to be fair,” admitted Sian.

“I thought both sides we’re absolutely rubbish first half! I thought it was one of those Sunday morning League games when we just kicked the ball in the air and headed it, so it was a bit disappointed but we didn’t start too well.

“At half-time, I said fully to them whoever makes a mistake ‘they’re going to score’ and unfortunately we made it. They didn’t look like they were going to score at all, so yes, it was a bit poor to be honest.

“I didn’t think we played well. I just thought we played to their bit. They were just booting the ball long, playing it. We were heading it.  They were winning a bit more of the seconds but it was really scrappy wasn’t it?  It wasn’t a good game. I can stand here and say it all game. It was poor. It was poor.  It was unlike us but we started a bit flat. It is what it is, a bit disappointing.”

Bearsted assistant manager Billy Jones said: “Probably a fair result. Both teams had chances. It was probably going to be tough but before the game I think we would’ve taken a point, so overall, actually, that’s alright for us that.

“When you go in front, yes, you want to keep that lead but we knew they were going to throw everything at us but that’s what they do, when they play here. Overall, quite pleased.”

When asked about making four chances to the side that stunned fellow play-off chasers Rusthall, Jones replied, “Just the conversation with the gaffer in midweek.  We knew it was a tough place to come, not so much the opposition, more so the pitch and you never really know what kind of condition it’s going to be in.

“You know you’re going to get some long balls against you most of the game. We worked on it on Thursday. It was literally a training session where we’re just pumping balls at our back four because that’s what they do and they do it really well, so it’s just a matter of those changes and those personnels and it was just a matter of making sure that we were defensively right. Our shape was right and we had people in there that could compete for the first and second phases, so I think overall we made the right call on that.

“Punjab are well-organised, well-structured, tough physically and go from front-to-back really quickly, so you’ve got to compete.  You know they’re going to try and get balls in the box. They’ve got good quality, especially on the right-side. We know they can hurt you if their deliveries are right, so we had to be right and stop crosses and get our bodies on the line and I thought we done that really well.”

Bearsted were without Daniel Melvin (personal), Conrad Lee (thigh strain) and Luca Radojevic (stress fracture), while Punjab United were missing Lea Dawson (ACL) and Harry Ottaway (hip flexor).

Punjab United centre-half Kyden Lewin-Thomas rolled the ball back to his goalkeeper Owen Bushell, who drilled a long ball forward with his right-foot.  The ball was given away by Bearsted centre-half Danny Keyte and Jordan Campbell’s right-footed drive from 25-yards bounced once and was comfortably gathered by recalled goalkeeper Leighton Fanshaw, with six minutes and four seconds on the clock.

Punjab United created their next attempt (13:18) when Jordan Campbell’s flicked pass went out to Johnson-Cole, who cut past Bearsted right-back Sam Flisher and Jordan Campbell’s right-footed shot from 22-yards trickled towards goal and Fanshaw comfortably gathered to prevent the ball nestling inside the bottom left-hand corner.

Jones added: “He looks really comfortable in goal if I’m honest. He’s come onto crosses when he needed to and he done everything that he needed to do in goal and he actually played very well. All in all, it was an alright day for him.”

When asked about dropping Frankie Leonard, Jones replied: “It’s always a difficult one and it’s probably been the height of our conversation topics this week.

“We’ve got two, if not three really good goalkeepers. We’ve got Lucas Brookman as well and for us Leighton hasn’t done anything wrong in terms of not being in the team.

“We had an opportunity to play Frankie in two games and he done well but we kinda look back on Leighton’s performances in the seven games previous that he played. He kept five clean-sheets, so that was our thinking behind it and then next week’s a different week.”

Punjab United wasted a glorious chance to change the outcome of this drab encounter, following the first of three corners, timed at 21:11.

Right-back Chris Edwards swung in a quality delivery with his right-foot from the right towards a crowded goal-mouth. 

Punjab’s left-back Ryan Gill emerged from this crowd to find a pocket of space to guide his free header sailing over the crossbar, aiming for the top far corner.

“He should’ve scored! He should’ve scored! We work on that at training and I think he should’ve scored and I think he knows that as well,” said Sian.

“That was a great chance. We know we’re good on our set-plays and that’s what you practice and he done it to a tee and the corner was absolutely brilliant, so it’s such a shame really.”

Jones added: “Quite disappointed with that.  I said to the boys before the game that we have to be really good at set-plays and for that to happen was quite poor because I felt we organised that on Thursday as well.

“We knew set-plays with Chris Edwards’ quality that he’s got, we knew they were going to be dangerous balls, so for a free header to happen, yes, we weren’t quite set right there.”

Edwards threw the ball towards the edge of the Bearsted penalty area, the ball was flicked on by 13-goal target-man Roman Campbell and the ball came out to Johnson-Cole, whose left-footed shot from 22-yards was weak and was comfortably saved by Fanshaw, who was the busier of the two goalkeeper’s.

“He didn’t catch it, did he? It was a roll back, pea back really but it wasn’t great – but the movement was good,” added Sian.

Bearsted holding midfielder Billy Lewins drew a foul from Edwards just on the edge of the D and Stace summed up the poor quality of this game when he stroked his right-footed free-kick over the crossbar from 25-yards, with half-an-hour played.

Bearsted who won the corner count by four-to-three, created their first goalscoring chance following their second flag-kick in the second phase.

Punjab dealt with Stace’s initial corner from the right and the ball was cleared out to Sonny Jackson, who dinked the ball back into the box and Keyte got in behind Stephen Ratcliff and his chip was comfortably caught by an untroubled Owen Bushell (37:06).

“I think that surprised everyone with DK being that high,” admitted Jones.

“Our game plan was just very much first and foremost have to compete.  Second, we have to match them for their physicality and then third if we can try and find our way of playing, hopefully a bit of quality will come our way and luckily it did in the second half when we got our goal.”

Sian admitted: “I didn’t think they were going to score to be honest, unless we made a mistake.

“I said at the beginning of the game because I thought we carried them really well but they’re a strong side. They knew what our strengths were.

“I know Bearsted are hardworking but I thought they would play a bit more football but they didn’t. I think they tried to match our physicality.

“They changed it a bit but I thought we can play with that. We can do that. We can fight all day, so it was probably come to our game plan in the end of it because I thought when we hit them on the counter, we looked good.

“Listen, they’re hard-working, they’re a good side. We understand why they’re third and you’ve got to respect that and I just think we probably let ourselves down in the first half.”

Despite the board for two additional minutes going up, referee Matthew Williams had enough of the first half (like the rest of us) ending it at 46:11.

Sian said: “Just don’t make a mistake because that’s what’s going to happen. This game is going to swing in the balance, so if you make a mistake, you’ll get punished and just keep going because second half we’re going down the hill and we’ll get some chances and I thought we started well second half and then we made that blunder.”

Jones added: “We said ‘just well done’.  Well done for being positive. Well done for winning first and second contacts. Well done for wining the second phases. Well done for being compact and whatever you do, we’ve had games before where we’ve said how well done they’ve come, come out for the second half and we’re nowhere near it.

“Listen, we’ll take the goal out of it but defensively, I thought we were very, very good.”

Bearsted produced a well-worked move as they created a goalscoring chance after only 95 seconds into the second half.

Nathan Light (good in the air but caught offside on three of the four occasions) played a reverse deck pass into Jackson and the left-back delivered a cross.  The ball came out to Stace, who laid the ball off to Jackson and his cross into the box was met by 17-goal striker Jake Embery, who flicked his header past the far post, as Lewin-Thomas challenged.

“I think it was a little bit behind Jake to be honest. Probably goes down as a half-chance, nothing more than that,” admitted Jones.

Sian added: “It’s a half-chance really. A bit difficult to get a header on target from there. I think we put a bit of pressure on them in that corner. I don’t think Owen had a shot to save.”

Bearsted grabbed the lead with only their second and final shot on target, timed at 10 minutes and 45 seconds on the clock.

Central midfielder Jack Palmby hit a long ball forward from the half-way line and Embery pounced on a mistake from Punjab centre-half Ratcliff, who squeeze the ball across to the unmarked Stace, who held his composure to slot his left-footed shot into the net with only Owen Bushell to beat from 16-yards.

“I think the ball up to Jake was good enough for him to compete and put pressure on the centre-half, which he done and then he’s nicked it past him and then he’s played in Sammy,” said Jones.

“It might’ve been a nice pass forward rather than a smashed pass but it was probably a little bit of quality that we’ve shown in the game and Jake does that really well and then you’re kind of leaving Sammy kind of one-v-one and he took it really well.”

Sian admitted: “It’s embarrassing! It’s embarrassing! It’s a Sunday League goal. We used to do those 25 years ago!

“You don’t let the ball bounce. I think it came from not tracking the ball up near the dug-out from Will.  Jayden just run off, lost the ball.

“Steve just should’ve clear it. If he headed it back to Owen or he should’ve just cleared it but he didn’t. Absolutely lost the plot for some reason. He had a moment of madness.

“Steve has probably been one of our best defenders all year. I went mad at him but listen, they made a mistake. It happens. It was a good finish in the end.”

Sian made a double change after 62 minutes, hooking holding midfielder Terlochan Singh and Hudson Scudder – who both offered nothing during the game – and brought on George Monger and Alfie Monger and switched formation to 3-5-2 when Ethan Okechukwu came on as left-wing-back with Edwards operating as right-wing-back with three centre-halves in Ratcliff (left), Wayne Bushell (centre) and Lewin-Thomas (right).

Punjab United delivered 13 long throws into the Bearsted penalty area during the game (Ratcliff (6), Edwards (5), Gill (1) and Lewin-Thomas (1) and Bearsted dealt with most, with centre-halves Ryan Blake and Keyte resilient.

“I was waiting because I thought we’re not playing too well and I was waiting for George to change the game and I thought when George came on and we went 3-5-2, I thought we changed the game,” highlighted Sian.

“We went out full-pace with Ethan and Alfie (Moynes) and Chris (Edwards) went right-wing-back and I thought we were brilliant!

“We started to play when George got on the ball. He was making everything tick lovely.  Listen, we were the best team in the last 25 minutes – we were excellent!”

Jones revealed his side were fully prepared for such a direct onslaught.

“It was no surprise. That’s why for our training session on Thursday, It was not the norm because we very much play football, play as much football as we possibly can.

“I’m on the half-way line smashing balls as high as I can because it’s not a negative on their part, that’s a positive of what they do and how well they do it and they’re still in the play-offs for that very reason.”

Ratcliff’s second long throw was cleared back out to Monger, who cracked a left-footed drive from 30-yards towards the bottom far corner, which was comfortably saved by Fanshaw, who made four saves in the game.

When asked whether Punjab United are over-reliant on long throws and set-pieces, Sian replied: “No! Listen, I think people keep saying to me that we’re ‘a long ball side or we’re a scrappy side or we do set pieces.’

“We can play. When it’s a time to play, we will play and when it’s time to be scrappy, we will fight and that is it and we will go and do what we can to get a result.

“We can make it messy. It can be scrappy. It can be anything sometimes. This team has got both. It’s got an element that we can play, like today we didn’t play too well, right, first half we didn’t play at all but second half we played 15 minutes of football and we were fantastic.”

Jones added: “More long throws, more long balls into the box and just trying to deal with it and if you’re keeping them at bay by them shooting from 30-yards out, you’re kind of feeling like you’re doing your job right.”

Punjab United kept knocking on the door and deserved their equaliser when it finally arrived with 40 minutes and 22 seconds on the clock.

Inevitably it came from a long throw.  Lewin-Thoms launched one from the right towards the back post where Blake made his only mistake of the game and the ball fell at Johnson-Cole, who hooked his left-footed half-volley across the diving Fanshaw into the far corner from 12-yards.

“Listen, when we went two up top, they couldn’t get us really. They couldn’t cope with that,” claimed Sian.

“I think the pace of William, the physical threat of Roman (Campbell).  Listen, we deserved that, we did deserve that.

“Listen, Will’s doing well. Roman’s been injured at the beginning of the season. Will’s had to come in and score goals. He’s been out on the wing, the boy’s been brilliant and he’s getting better and better.

“Will’s coming good at the right time to be honest and I can rely on him to come out on the wing or I can also rely on him to go up top with Roman when we have to.”

Jones added: “To be fair Sonny and Ryan have come off after the game and they’ve both gone for the same header and they’ve both said after they could’ve – one of them could’ve dealt with it and the one of them could’ve then landed on whatever happened after.

“You put that boy in front of goal and it’s his only chance of the game and he buries it bottom corner and it ends up being a good finish.

“I didn’t realise it was as late as that, which is probably even more disappointing.”

Bearsted squandered an excellent chance to snatch the victory (43:19) when substitute Aidan Clark knocked his header on for the impressive Stace, who played in substitute left-winger Richard Jimoh, who lacked composure and flicked his right-footed shot over the crossbar with only the keeper to beat.

“He doesn’t quite connect with it properly or there’s not enough conviction behind the shot but again a good chance and he probably should’ve done better and he’ll probably say that himself,” admitted Jones.

Sian added: “That was a good chance because with the three at the back and we’re pushing for a goal, you’re going to create some chancres aren’t they? We did put him off a little bit, which is good and he just kicked it over didn’t he, so it was nothing really. It wasn’t a hot shot, was just a little flick in the end wasn’t it?”

There were seven minutes and 11 seconds of stoppage time played – and Punjab United had two big chances to win it.

Johnson-Cole drove into the Bearsted box and fed substitute right-winger Moynes, whose right-footed angled shot trickled across Fanshaw and just past the foot of the far post.

Johnson-Cole cut into the box once more and the ball came out to Edwards, who drilled his first-time right-footed drive crashing against the crossbar from 22-yards (50:46) but neither side deserved to win this awful game of FOOTball and the final whistle couldn’t come quickly enough!

Sian said: “Look, you can see when we scored, I said ‘let’s go for it, let’s go for the win, don’t go back defensive, just go for it.’

“I think it shocked them really because we still carried on creating chances but Chris hit that. We had two or three crosses where we could’ve made something from it.

“Listen, in the scheme of things, I think both teams should be really happy with a point because we were both poor and that is it.

“It’s a Christmas gift to both. It’s a point each and we move on and we’ve had two good games against them this year and we’re playing them in the Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Finals again at home in January, so they know what we’re all about. We know what they’re about. Fair play to them, they’ve done alright.”

Jones added: “Edwards’ has got good quality and you’re right behind it and you think ‘just hit the bar and come out’ and luckily it did.”

Jamie Coyle’s Whitstable Town remain at the summit of the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table having thrashed Corinthian 6-2 today, while Fisher stunned Rusthall with a 5-0 win in Rotherhithe.

Whitstable Town have picked up 47 points from their 19 games, while Larkfield & New Hythe (42 points from 21 games), Bearsted (36 points, 11 wins, three draws and five defeats), Rusthall (34 points from 17 games) and Punjab United (31 points, eight wins, seven draws and five defeats) remain in the play-off zone going into Christmas.

Punjab United are without a game next Saturday 27 December but play the bottom two sides next – Stansfeld (home, 3 January) and basement side Hythe Town (away, 10 January).

“Where ee were in August, near the bottom, now we’re fifth. Can’t ask no more than that for Christmas,” said Sian.

“Listen, the boys have been amazing. We’ve had a really bad start and now we’ve got there, we’re doing well. We’re fighting. We’ve got a great squad and I believe in them and we’ll just keep going.

“Listen, the League ain’t won yet. Nothing’s won yet. The top five’s not done yet. We’ve got a long way to go yet.”

Bearsted host Kennington at Honey Lane next Saturday.

“We’ll take that (third-place) all day long. It’s where we want to be in and around the play-offs and we’ve just got to keep believing, keep fighting, keep pushing on,” said Jones.

“We’ll just concentrate on ourselves.  Like we said a few weeks ago, we can only do what we can do and that’s compete, that’s play our football, play our way. If we have to mix it up, we’ve done that very well today. If we don’t, then we can get our foot on the ball and play and that’s the way that we want to play but we’ll take it game-by-game.

“We’ve got Kennington at home on Saturday. It will be another tough one. I think they drew (1-1 at home to Phoenix Sports today), so we’ve got to make sure all the boys don’t drink or eat too much over Christmas and make sure we’re ready for Saturday.

“It will be tough but we’ve got to be right, mentally right. We’ll probably make a few changes from our team today but we’ll see who’s available, we’ll see who comes through unscathed today. We’ve got a squad of 23-24 fighting for places.”

Punjab United: Owen Bushell, Chris Edwards, Ryan Gill (Ethan Okechuckwu 69), Terlochan Singh (George Monger 62), Stephen Ratcliff, Kyden Lewin-Thomas, William Johnson-Cole, Wayne Bushell, Roman Campbell, Jordan Campbell, Hudson Scudder (Alfie Moynes 62).
Subs: Anthony Adesite, Ashley Probets

Goal: William Johnson-Cole 86

Bearsted: Leighton Fanshaw, Sam Flisher, Sonny Jackson, Billy Lewins (Ashton Mitford 77), Ryan Blake, Danny Keyte, Nathan Light, Jack Palmby, Jake Embery (Richard Jimoh 81), Jarred Trespaderne (Aidan Clarke 88), Samuel Stace.
Subs: Reuben Jones, Michael Hagan

Goal: Samuel Stace 56

Attendance: 153
Referee: Mr Matthew Williams
Assistants: Mr Onyeka Nnamani & Mr Kenechukwu Aghasili