Lordswood 3-0 Bearsted - We brought a team here that we thought we could win this game of football, says Bearsted boss Kevin Stevens, as his centre-half Colby Wait could find himself in big trouble with FA for alleged homophobic slur

Lordswood 3 – 0 Bearsted
Location	Martyn Grove, North Dane Way, Walderslade, Chatham, Kent ME5 8YE
Kickoff	29/09/2026 19:45

LORDSWOOD  3-0  BEARSTED
Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup First Round
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Martyn Grove

LORDSWOOD manager Callum O’Shea praised his side’s togetherness on a night where Bearsted lost their discipline as last season’s Challenge Cup Finalists suffered a First Round exit.

The Bears failed to turn up at Flamingo Park over Easter as Jimmy Anderson’s Rusthall won the Challenge Cup for the very first time with a convincing 4-0 win.

Lordswood went into this tie sitting at the top of the Southern Counties East Football League First Division table with 19 points (six wins, one draw and one defeat), while Bearsted sit in sixth-place in the ninth-tier Premier Division table with 13 points (four wins, one draw and three defeats).

Bearsted made eight changes to their side that lost a nine-goal thriller at league leaders Fisher at the weekend, while Lordswood made just the one from their 7-1 home win over Welling Town on 19 September.

Lordswood winger Harvey Welford rifled in his sixth goal of the season as the home side – now unbeaten in seven games, winning their last four – scored early.

Bearsted right-sided centre-half Colby Wait (who actually wore the number four shirt when on the team-sheet handed to the referee he was listed at five), was sent off by referee Jamie Gray on the stroke of half-time.

It was not known at the time of interviewing both managers but Wait was sent-off for allegedly using a homophobic slur after Lordswood striker Callum Peck allegedly grabbed Wait’s manhood and if The Football Association find Wait guilty of allegedly saying ‘gay c**t’ to Peck then Wait will be in serious trouble with The Football Association.

Footballers found guilty of discrimination will face a ban of at least 10 matches under strengthened FA rules.  In previous seasons, suspensions ranged from six to 12 match for ‘aggravated breaches’ of FA Rule E3.2, which relates to misconduct around references to ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, or disability.

Shorter bans – with a minimum of six matches – may also be considered by The FA, where there are mitigating circumstances or an individual has admitted the breach at the earliest opportunity.  But a six-match ban would now only be considered in those circumstances, rather than being the standard minimum suspension, as it was before.

Lordswood holding midfielder Alfie Clark was also shown a straight red card in the 85^th minute for a bad foul.

Bearsted assistant manager Billy Jones (79) was cautioned by the referee, who threw Rueben Jones and then Conrad Lee in the sin-bin immediately after Lordswood super-sub Joshua Carter scored a sublime stoppage time chipped second before targetman Callum Peck tapped in his fifth goal of the season as direct Lordswood scored a flattering third goal at the death.

Stevens was clearly an angry and frustrated manager when he faced the questions for nearly 18 minutes after his side’s Cup exit.

“The shame of it is, the first thing I’ve got to talk about is the referee, who we had a terrible one on Saturday and we’ve got another terrible one tonight and it seems to be the ongoing thing all season.

“Both management teams thought exactly the same, even though they were winning. It’s not sour grapes.

“Going back to the team, we’ve rested a lot of players tonight. We’ve brought in some.  There’s probably two regulars in the team and made up of players who needed minutes and need their fitness up, some youngsters, who I thought done really well.

“Joe Brown on the left down really well and the lad (Farid Salifou) who came on up top done really well.”

Lordswood manager Callum O’Shea, 35, added: “Really, really chuffed at the minute. We’re going through a good period of time at the moment in terms of clean sheets.  We’ve managed in 10 games, keep seven clean sheets, conceded five goals in three of those games, so we’re going through a period in that regard.

“It’s no secret tonight that Bearsted we’re not at full-strength. They had a combination of players coming back from injury, fringe players and 23s but in my opinion they’re still some side, so we had to be at it.

“Technically, they were a better side than us tonight.  Their rotations were great, they played really well in their 3-5-2 and I did feel probably more so towards the first half, I feel like we were quite sloppy in possession but I also feel we were quite good.

“We went a little bit more direct and I felt like we were relatively kind of soundish in terms of defensively.

“To beat a side at Step Five in a Cup game and to win 3-0 is a positive evening for us.”

Tenth-tier Lordswood stunned their higher-league opponents by opening the scoring with their first chance with three minutes and 27 seconds on the clock.

Right-back George Miles threw the ball into the centre where an unmarked Tyler Sterling controlled the ball in the middle of the pitch some 30-yards from goal before Alfie Clarke played the ball out to Miles, who fed Welford, who cut into the box and showed the same ruthlessness of his dad Shaun, rifling his right-footed shot into the roof of the net from eight-yards.

“Harvey’s our out-ball at the minute, not to give too much away but we are at times playing a bit lob-sided with Harvey at times,” said O’Shea.

“I don’t know how many goals he’s got this season but he’s scored in the majority of games for us. He’s managed to drive and stab the ball in the goal to put us in front. That’s what Harvey’s doing for us in abundance at the minute and it’s really pleasing to see.”

Stevens added: “Their first goal, I said to the boys before they went out ‘don’t give them anything free’ and they get a free throw, totally unmarked and they end up scoring from it, which was really, really frustrating. But we dominated the game after that.

“For the lad (Sterling) to come in, have a throw to him in all that space is criminal, so yes, unfortunate to go a goal down so quickly, but I thought the lads’ responded really well.”

Lordswood’s attacking midfielder Luke Adams switched a looping diagonal out to Welford on the right and he played the ball inside to the unmarked Sterling, who drilled a first-time left-footed drive flashing past the left-hand post from 25-yards before leaving the contest with a hamstring tweak.

“Fingers crossed, it’s nothing too major or serious. He felt a little twinge in his hamstring. He half wanted to carry on. We’ve got a few players away and we have actually numbered up some injuries as well, so we said that ‘was it for him this evening,’ so we managed to get him out early and get Nathaniel Murray on for some minutes.”

O’Shea revealed that Tom Davey (broken humerus), James Bayfield (ACL) and Shaquon Williams (metatarsal) are out long-term.

Bearsted were playing their usual on-the-deck passing game and Liam Gillis and Aidan Clark both linked up with one-twos before Aldan Clark hooked his left-footed volley over the crossbar (14:48).

Lordswood then created a couple of chances to put the game to bed, when Conrad Lee – playing on the left-hand side of three centre-halves – had his pocket picked in his own defensive third and Peck pounced on the mistake but visiting keeper James Savage rushed out to flick the ball away, low to his right, as he sprinted outside his penalty area.

“I think if you ask Pecker that, he’s probably got to do better there. He’s probably got to take the short earlier or do a little bit more in terms of getting around the keeper to put the ball in the goal,” said O’Shea.

“I think if he goes and puts that one away in the first half, I think that’s the game more or less done. I can’t remember whether that was before or after their sending off but I think going 2-0 up - against a mixed Bearsted side – potentially changes the flow of the game completely.

Lewis Tristram’s throw from the half-way line was flicked on by Welford down the left and Peck smacked a right-footed volley screaming over the diving keeper and just over the top of the far post from 25-yards (19:58).

“We’ve got two or three players who can launch throws into areas, Lewis Tristram, Alfie Clark and George Miles. I don’t think we were as affective as we could be with it but we are able to put balls into certain areas and Callum Peck has played good levels and at this level. If he’s got an opportunity to shoot, he will and unfortunately it didn’t go in.”

Stevens added: “I thought first 20, yes, he was a bit of a handful and obviously last 10 or 15, when we was down to 10 for so long and then got a couple sin-binned.  Yes, he’s always a handful. He was a decent-Ish player at this level.”

Bearsted started to gain control of the game around the half-hour mark and a long ball out of defence by Tyler Hatton sailed over the top of Lordswood centre-half Plummer and Aidan Clark hooked his left-footed volley across the keeper and bounced past the far post.

Bearsted played their trademark passing game with left-winger Yevhenii Marchenko and Samuel Stace both linking up outside the box before the ball was switched out to high right-wing-back Rueben Jones, who easily cut inside left-back Tristram and his right-footed rasping drive flew straight down the throat of Lordswood goalkeeper Roman Hall.

The 22-year-old goalkeeper has conceded only one goal in his seven games played – as Lordswood have now kept seven clean-sheets in their 10 games so far this season, conceding only five goals in three of those games.

“Roman Hall missed the first three games for us. He’s only conceded one goal in seven games for us this season. The good thing about Roman, he’s not a big goalkeeper. He’s very good coming for crosses, very good aerially, very good shot-stopper, sweeps up really well.

“As you saw tonight on the ball he’s as good as a lot of the players. He’s naturally both-footed and his distribution is key for us this season.”

Plummer – right-sided centre-half – put in a man-of-the-match performance to protect his goalkeeper.

O’Shea said: “He’s been brilliant since the departure of Freeman Rogers. Charlie’s obviously come back in and got the armband back, which he’s fully deserving off. He’s been instrumental in every game that we’ve kept a clean-sheet in, alongside whether that’s George Sheminant or Luke Kimberley and at one stage Jonathan Harris.

“Charlie has played in the majority of those games. Yes, he’s a leader, he’s our leader and he’s not putting a foot wrong at the moment. He’s getting the dividends out of it because he’s keeping clean sheets week-in-week-out.”

Stevens added: “Pecky up front, he’s always a handful. I think their two most experienced players, Charlie Plummer at the back sort of marshalled them. I thought he also marshalled the referee quite well.

Bersted’s second-choice goalkeeper James Savage will not dislodge Adam Molloy – who was away at the weekend and rested tonight – from the number one slot as he almost gifted Lordswood a second goal (42:21).

Savage tried to bowl the ball overarm out of his box but got it all wrong and sprinted to the edge of his penalty area and grabbed hold of the ball and referee Jamie Gray awarded the home side an indirect free-kick 16-yards from goal.

Tadiwanashe Nago (central midfielder) teed up Adams, who drilled his free-kick into the wall but the referee demanded a retake, with the same players involved but this time Adams drilled his right-footed free-kick past the wall and just past the foot of the far post.

“It’s a tough one. I think he’s tried to steer it well clear of the wall and obviously put it wide,” added O’Shea.

“Another effort that if it probably goes on target, it potentially goes in but it’s a good effort and unfortunately just narrowly went wide.”

Stevens added: “If I’m honest, I don’t know whether it was in or out. He’s probably having a new sticky pair of gloves that he had on tonight.”

Wait drilled a long ball down the line out of defence to release Stace down the line, who cut the ball back to Wait who curled a stunning right-footed drive crashing against the crossbar from 35-yards (44:38).

“Nice strike actually. We played some nice football. He drove forward with it, super strike. It looked like it was dipping in from where we were but it hit the bar, a nice strike from Colby,” said Stevens.

O’Shea admitted: “To be honest, regardless of our goal, I don’t really think we ever dominated the first half. I think we might’ve had a couple of moments but I’ll have to watch it back but I do generally believe that they probably did dominate the majority of the possession in the first half.

“I think they’re a very good side, very well organised in their 3-5-2. I think that their rotations were great across the pitch. They had comfortable footballers from the back to the front man.  Sam Stace is a very good player, very articulate on the ball. They’re a very good footballing side, however, I felt like we were able to kind of dominate them slightly in terms of the physical side.”

Bersted’s first of three players to be sin-binned was right-sided wideman Joe Wilson (46:23-52:45, then emerging with 4:23 on the clock in the second half).

Stace broke down the heart of the pitch before playing the ball out to Jones, who cut inside Tristram and put it on a plate for Aidan Clark, who cracked his left-footed drive over the crossbar from 20-yards.

Bearsted lost Wait (five minutes and 24 seconds into stoppage time) to a straight red card, following an off the ball incident.

Tristram threw the ball down the line from close to the half-way line and Wait and Peck clashed and several members of the Bearsted bench shouted out that Peck ‘grabbed his nuts’ of their centre-half.

Now, if a footballer uses discriminatory language then the referee is correct to pull out a straight red-card, as per the Laws of the game and Colby could be in big trouble with The Football Association.

“If someone grabs your private parts, you’re going to react to it but of course the ref didn’t see that and to get the reaction that Colby done you don’t have a reaction like he had, unless someone grabs your private parts,” claimed Stevens.

“I think the referee’s got to use a bit of common sense and be in a better position to see what’s happening. I think there was a lot of off-the-ball stuff tonight that isn’t good enough!”

When Stevens was asked why his centre-half reacted in the manner that he had (at this stage the discriminatory language wasn’t known at the time of the interview), the manager replied, “Everyone on our bench saw what happened and if someone grabs your private parts, you’re going to react.

“Listen, I think the level of officiating is horrendous at the moment. He’s (the referee) not in a position to see it. He should be in a position to see it.  You don’t have a player to react like that. He (Wait) shouted out something, the ref said, which is what he sent him off for.”

O’Shea was asked about his thoughts about the incident – once again, the words that were allegedly used by Wait was not known during the time of O’Shea’s interview.

“I don’t know. We’ve got the Veo, they’ve got the Veo, I’m sure they’ll be putting the Veo out.

“I didn’t see Callum reach round. I think If Callum had reached round the ref would’ve pulled that up. I think the trouble for the number four of Bearstead’s side is probably due to a little bit of naivety.

“He’s kind of stamped,” claimed O’Shea.  “If that was one of my players who had stamped, I’d probably be expecting him to get sent off so that’s really all I can say on that incident.”

Wait denies any wrongdoing and Bearsted will put their case forward to The Football Association.

Both managers reflected on their thoughts at the interval.

O’Shea said: “We weren’t overly happy at half-time. We felt we were a little bit wasteful in possession.  We felt we were defensively, not sound, but I think we dealt with a lot of what they gave but we were just a little bit disappointed with how poor we were on the ball.

“We kind of said at half-time if we’re going to continue like that, we’d rather go a little bit more direct and play in certain areas and play a little bit of more percentage football. 

“I think where the game got a little bit more scrappy and a little bit more end-to-end, I think that did go in our favour and it stretched the game and we managed to get the second goal.”

Stevens added: “They worked really hard.  We had chances. We had them under the cosh quite a bit, I thought.  They had some early chances but I thought we were the better team. It was just stay in the game, work hard, carry on what you’re doing and we’ll create chances, which we did.”

The referee played an advantage after a challenge by Lee and Peck drilled his right-footed angled drive from outside the box, which was saved by Savage’s legs, with 104 seconds into the second half.

“Listen, Sav is a good keeper. I think he’ll put his hands up to two or three mistakes on Saturday and he knows that and he already done that to me actually when I turned up tonight,” said Stevens.

“He’s a decent keeper, who hasn’t played too much and you’re going to get a bit of rustiness sometimes and unfortunately he had a little bit of that on Saturday but you saw him a lot better tonight, playing his second game in a row.”

Stace floated a free-kick towards the edge of the six-yard box where Marchenko (now playing as the loan striker) sent his free-header over the crossbar when well placed in between the two posts (11:38).

“He’s not known for his heading Zen. I think it’s probably the first time I’ve seen him header a ball actually but it was a good chance, a good chance. He’s got to header that down. He’s got the whole goal to aim at but he’s a young lad who will get better,” added Stevens.

Adams swung in Lordswood’s first of two corners which was cleared out to the threatening Peck, whose right-footed drive was saved by Savage, low to his right, to prevent the ball nestling inside the bottom left-hand corner.

Peck cut the ball onto his right-foot and forced a great save from Savage, diving to his right to tip the ball around his post, as Peck was a nuisance to the Bearsted defence as the home side often went direct to their big man.

Adams recycled the ball back into the Bearsted penalty from the right where Tristram flicked his free header across goal and just past the far post (19:24).

Adams played the ball into Nago, before switching the ball out to substitute left-winger Nathaniel Murray, who cut the ball back to Tristram, where the unmarked left-back drilled a low 35-yard drive, which was held by Savage at his near-post.

A big kick upfield by Hall was knocked down by Peck and Welford went very close, cracking a right-footed half-volley, which arrowed just over the top of the far post from 25-yards.

Lordswood were also reduced to ten-men (39:09) themselves when the referee had initially pulled out a yellow card but then decided to not caution the holding midfielder, instead pulled out a straight red card for a midfield tackle on Stace.

“I mean, I said to Alfie after the game, the way the game was going, baring in mind that Bearsted were already down to 10 men. We said to them at half-time he will not try but if he (the referee) gets the opportunity to even it up, he might,” claims O’Shea, who must know deep down that referee’s ‘do not even things up’, they officiate by the Laws of the game.

“I’m not sure whether it was. He gave him every opportunity to do it and I just felt that the time of the game he (Clark) probably didn’t need to go into it (the tackle) but Alfie’s a player, he does wear his heart on his sleeve so if he seems the opportunity to win a 50-50 tackle he’s going to go and do it and that’s what he’s done and unfortunately he’s the one that’s going to pay the price.”

To remain balanced, O’Shea was also asked about the performance of the referee tonight.

“I think the ref had to make a few decisions. Those decisions weren’t going to please both teams. I understand why he sent our player off. Their four getting sent off was definitely a sending off.  I think the trouble that Bearsted had tonight and I don’t know whether it was a bit of naivety but they had players that weren’t reading the room.  You know that if you use any form of dissent you go off and unfortunate for the Bearsted players, they did that.

“We also understand when ref’s are being assessed it’s tough for them, not only have they got two sets of players and management teams against them, they’re also being assessed by the League as well or by the referring platform.

“But it’s one of those games tonight, I think if you’re on the losing end, you probably don’t like the referee’s performance. If you’re on our end, we weren’t really too phased or fussed and understand they our player got sent off.”

Stevens added: “Do you know that, I thought it was naughty. I thought there was a couple of naughty ones from them in the game. I thought it was a red.  He’s got a yellow out, I agree with their bench, if you get a yellow out but he done the right thing, he backed off, probably the only good thing he did do actually. He backed off and gave himself a bit of thinking time. For me, I think that was a straight red personally.”

Lordswood went route-one to grab a second goal with 44 minutes and 11 seconds on the clock, thanks to a costly mistake by last defender Lee.

Keeper Hall launched a big kick upfield, Lee slipped in a tussle with substitute right-winger Joshua Carter and the Chatham Town loanee produced a sublime left-footed chip from 22-yards, which sailed over the keeper’s head and dropped into the empty goal.

“I don’t know if you know too much about Josh Carter. He’s 17, he’s come to us from Chatham Town’s under 18s. This is his first year in senior football and he has come on as a substitution in the last four games and scored three goals so we’re delighted,” revealed O’Shea.

“Josh has ultimately gone on and won three games of football. He’s been instrumental for us in terms of listening to instructions, come on and put the game to bed.

“I actually think he took his goal really well tonight. He’s worked really hard to even get the opportunity, hunted their left-centre-half down and he was very articulate in terms of putting the ball over the keeper’s head, so we’re really chuffed with Josh.”

Stevens added: “I didn’t really see a threat (from Lordswood). They deserve their win, I’m not taking nothing away from them but I thought we were comfortable for that most part, even when we was down to 10. I thought we were comfortable and it would only be a mistake that would open us up and they’ve got another one but I felt quite comfortable with it.

“I mean as it went on, I thought probably the last five, six, seven minutes, whatever it was, we’d end up maybe conceding one or two because we were trying to get forward and get back in the game.

“But listen, it is what it is. I’m not going to blame the boys for the last couple of goals.”

Referee Gray then threw Lee (44:35) and Rueben Jones (44:50) in the sin-bin – neither of them returned to the pitch and Lordswood took full advantage against the eight men.

“The two sin-bins, I don’t like them and I’ll be talking to the players in there in a minute about them but do you know what they come from? They come from the frustrations of such a poor performance from the referee and when you have such a poor performance, you’re going to get people frustrated,” added Stevens.

The Lords grabbed a flattering third goal with 46 minutes and 15 seconds on the clock when Murray fizzed in a low cross from within the left-channel and Peck stabbed the ball into the centre of the goal, first time with his right-foot from very close range.

“With Callum, he works so hard and in Nathaniel Murray, you’ll probably see more of him this season when you come to our games but when he gets the ball down the line he’s so fast.

“As soon as he beats a player and puts the ball in the box the one thing that Callum Peck will do, he will be in the box and that’s where he does score his goals, so after the running he done all evening I think he deserved his goal to put the game to bed.

“They’ve given me work-rate, togetherness and a clean sheet which is something that we’re prioritising at the minute.

“I say it quite a lot but we’ve generally got a group that like each other. We’ve got a group that actually want to play football together and we’ve got a group that go out and have social gatherings together, which is rare.

“At the minute, we are quite fortunate because things are going right but when you’ve got leaders like Charlie Plummer, Jack Richards and Callum Peck, you’re more kind of experienced players, they manage the changing room for you, so we don’t have to, so we’re going through a really good period and hopefully it continues.”

Stevens added: “When you’ve got eight men on the field, you’re probably going to concede a goal, half-a-chance, especially if you’re trying to get forward and score goals.

“It’s really frustrating. We brought a team here that we’re missing eight, nine, 10 main starters, who were rested tonight but we still brought a team here, we were still very respectful and brought a team here that we thought could win this game of football and I thought at 1-0 at half-time, we was really, really in the game, so to lose it, yes, it’s a little bit disappointing. I don’t like to go out of anything.”

When asked if there’s anybody from today’s 12 players that are knocking on his first-team door, Stevens replied, “I think Joe Brum down the left done really well for me. A young lad, I think he worked his absolute socks off. He’s one I saw excel in pre-season. I’ll probably be pushing at some stage.

“Fariod Salifou up front, I thought he came on (in the 69^th minute to partner Marchenko) done really well. Had some really good touches, was lively and lined up well. He’s another one that we’ll keep an eye on. Unfortunately the other 23s didn’t get on but we’ve got some good players coming through.”

If Salifou will break through into Stevens’ first-team squad then he will need to learn that you cannot turn up to a game whenever you want and turn up when your team-mates are warming up with less than 30 minutes before kick-off.

Lordswood host their local rivals Rochester Untied in the Last 32 of the Challenge Cup on a date to be arranged.

O’Shea said: “Tough game as always. We went there on Bank Holiday Monday (drawing 0-0) and we actually came away feeling a little bit deflated. I thought we probably done enough to win the game. Rochester are very good at what they do, they’re able to turn games in a little bit of a scrap.

“You always got to be on top form when you play against a Rochester side and where it is a bit of a derby game, we had a bit of a kerfuffle with them during the play-off Semi-Final where I had my words to say not just them but the way the League had handled that situation.

“There’s probably a little bit of tension, spice but no listen, we set up to play against a really strong Rochester team but we fancy ourselves against anyone down here at the minute.”

Lordswood are level on points with Andy Pierce’s side First Division table, although the Spartans have played a couple of games more.

Hythe Town (18 points from six games), Sporting Club Thamesmead (17 points from nine games) and Croydon (15 points from eight games) are in the play-off zone.

O’Shea takes his side to Margate on Saturday to tackle seventh-placed newly-promoted side Minster (13 points from eight).

“Tough game on Saturday. We’ve got some injuries, we’ve got some players out. We’ve got Lewis Tristram, Nathaniel Murray and Charlie Plummer, so we’ve got to find a way on Saturday but we have got squad depth.

“We’ll be looking at the 23s. We’ve got a few 23s that have caught our attention recently. Eli Lloyd being one so it gives us a really good opportunity to start introducing those boys into the frame on Saturday.

“Aspirations is obviously to gain promotion. We feel with SE Dons and Greenwich leaving the league, I think it’s very open this year.

“I speak to (Chairman) Ray Broad quite often and we do want promotion, however that comes.  Ideally it would be nice to go up automatically but as we all know it’s not as easy at that at this level, so a higher finish than fourth (last year’s placing) is where we ant to be.

“If we have to go through the play-offs, we want to be playing at home in that Semi-Final fixture but the achievement hopefully or the goal is to gain promotion and have another one or two good cup runs.”

Fisher (23 points from 10 games) lead the way in the Premier Division, while the play-off sides contain Hollands & Blair (19 points from nine games), Kennington (14 points from nine games), AFC Greenwich Borough (14 points from seven games) and Faversham Strike Force (14 points from 10 games), with Bearsted in sixth place a point behind.

Stevens will be serving the first of his there-match stadium ban for when Tony Russell brings his AFC Greenwich Borough side to Honey Lane on Saturday.

Stevens, who was sent off following the final whistle at St Paul’s at the weekend, said: “I thought the referee at Fisher on Saturday wasn’t very good. I got sent-off. I didn’t abuse him. I didn’t rush forward to him. I went to speak to him and politely said ‘I don’t think you was very good today,’ when I shook his hand and a report comes in saying ‘I was aggressive to him’ which is beyond me really.’

The Bears are currently missing Daniel Melvin (groin). Nathan Light (fractured knee and expected to be back in six weeks’ time) and Richard Jimoh (knee).

“They’re going to be decent. We’ve watched Greenwich a couple of times so we know what we need to do and hopefully we can go out as a team and carry out the instructions right and if we do then I think we can beat anyone in this league but there will be probably 18 managers saying that in the league,” said Stevens.

“They’ll be a very tough nut to crack but very confident if we turn up on the day, we can beat anybody.

“Any side that Tony is the gaffer off, is going to be decent. They’re going to do the right things, proper play the right way, hard to beat, they’ve had a decent start. They’ll probably want their start to be better, same as I want our start to be better but it’s early.

“You’re not going to win or lose the league in September, so it’s early in the season. We’re still trying to get to grips with the things that we do, working out our best 11, which we have got a very good squad depth, but we know that we’re decent and can beat anyone in this League.”

Lordswood: Roman Hall, George Miles, Lewis Tristram (Jack Richards 61), Alfie Clark, Charlie Plummer, George Sheminant, Tyler Sterling (Nathaniel Murray 20), Tadiwanashe Nago (Luke Kimberley 81), Callum Peck, Luke Adams (Zack Manning 69), Harvey Welford (Joshua Carter 79).

Goals: Harvey Welford 4, Joshua Carter 90, Callum Peck 90

Booked: Lewis Tristram 54, Callum Peck 87

Sent Off: Alfie Clark 85

Bearsted: James Savage, Rueben Jones, Joseph Brum, Tyler Hatton, Colby Wait, Conrad Lee, Yevhenii Marchenko, Liam Gillies, Samuel Stace, Aidan Clark, Joe Wilson (Farid Salifou 69).
Subs: Monty Swift, Can Kanik, Aleksandar Grigorov, Luka Radojevic

Booked: Conrad Lee 49, Billy Jones 79 (assistant manager)

Temporary Dismissals: Joe Wilson 45, Conrad Lee 90, Rueben Jones 90

Sent Off: Colby Wait 45

Attendance: 162
Referee: Mr Jamie Gray
Assistants: Mr James Folan-Young & Mr Aidan Machin-Monkman
Observer: Mr Mark Joy

Match Duration:
First Half: 52:45
Second Half: 50:09