Snodland Town 1-5 Phoenix Sports - I feel embarrassed, there was no motivation there, there was no desire and I apologise to the fans that we've dropped the ball and f***ed up, admits Snodland Town joint-manager Luke Jessup

Snodland Town 1 – 5 Phoenix Sports
Location	Potyn's Sports Field, Snodland Community Centre, Paddlesworth Road, Snodland, Kent ME6 5DP
Kickoff	04/04/2026 15:00

SNODLAND TOWN  1-5  PHOENIX SPORTS
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Easter Saturday 4 April 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Paddlesworth Road

SNODLAND TOWN joint-manager Luke Jessup admitted to be feeling embarrassed after putting out a side that lacked desire and motivation as their Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division play-off hopes ended in humiliation.

Brilliant Phoenix Sports kept their hopes alive as they climbed up three places into sixth, thanks to scoring five first half goals from their six chances during an outstanding and ruthless first half performance.

Winger Khayrie Harris, striker Jamarie Brissett’s brace - which took him to 14 goals for the season - and midfielders Taylor Fisher and Harry Barnes were all clinical in front of goal, leaving the awful home side with a lot of soul searching to do during the half-time interval.

Phoenix Sports declared at the interval and Snodland Town, who changed formation at the interval and made four substitutions, put in a vastly improved performance but substitute central midfielder Zak Loveridge’s third goal of the season was just a consolation.

“Not good enough! Unacceptable and we must do better,” said Jessup post-match.

“Look, I don’t think any one individual or the tactics were any different that we’ve had all season really. We’ve had the same players in and around it, playing the same formation but today we just looked off the pace.

“Fair play to Phoenix by the way. I thought they were excellent but we were nowhere near it – but to answer the question more directly, I couldn’t put my finger on it as to why because all the goals were a little bit different in their own way, which I suppose in itself is quite damning because if you’ve conceded in one area but it seems there was a number of different goals from a number of different area from a number of different deliveries that have caused us problems.

“Phoenix have got some great players up there, some great players that have sort of played out of their skin and fair play to them.”

Phoenix Sports’ player-manager, Jake Goodman, 32, added: “It was a real professional job.  The job was done in the first half.  Second half, obviously, I would say we took it easy. We just managed it, managed the game at times, saved energy, so yes, we managed it really well and saw the job out.

“We conceded a sloppy goal, which I’m not happy with but all in all, I’m really happy with the performance.

“We’ve been saying it’s been coming with the way that we’ve been playing. We knew at some point someone was going to get where every shot we have goes in and that’s pretty much what happened today, apart from mine! To be fair, I think someone went down injured, so I was actually kicking it out!”

This game was billed as the losing side being knocked out of the play-off race.

Goodman added: “I don’t really need to go over that, how important today was. We drum home more about the performance. If the performance is right, the result always takes care of itself.”

The start of the game was played at a slow tempo and lacked quality all over the pitch – but all six of the goals were scored uphill.

Snodland Town goalkeeper Justin Lee put in an awful performance for the whole game and he was picking the ball out of his net after only 11 minutes and nine seconds on the clock.

Paul Lee (the brother of the home goalkeeper) threw the ball short from within the right channel to Harris, who cut onto his left-foot and his 30-yarder from within the channel screamed over the diving keeper into the top far corner with a quality finish.

“A good bit of build-up play, obviously passed into Khayrie. I think he took one touch inside and wrapped it. Great technique on the strike and put it in the top corner. It was a very good start, just what we needed really,” said Goodman.

Jessup said: “We didn’t close our men down, a very simple mistake. It was a bit of a miss-communication between the left-back and the winger. 

“We haven’t shown the correct desire or nous to go and pick up a simple man.”

Holding midfielder James Rogers, 41, was offering no protection for Snodland Town’s two centre-halves of Liam Friend, 38, the former Herne Bay player-manager and Josh Hill, as they were ripped apart by a brilliant Phoenix attack.

Goodman, who plays at the heart of Phoenix’s three central defenders, was the only visiting player not to get a shot on target during the first half, clipping his right-foot shot sailing past the right-hand post from 25-yards after Barnes’ header was hooked forward by Harris.

Hill opened the gate as Phoenix Sports doubled their lead with their next chance, with 25 minutes and 44 seconds on the clock.

Left-wing-back Ben Morrison played a first time pass forward, Fisher’s through ball saw the Snodland back four stop in unison and Brissett beat the offside trap to race into the box, keep composed to skip past the keeper drill his right-footed shot across the flat-footed keeper into the far corner in a one-v-one situation from the corner of the six-yard box.

Goodman said: “Again, another really good bit of play, drew him in and his decision making with the players understanding where the space was. We want to keep the ball. We want to be a possession based team but that’s not just about keeping it around the back, it’s playing it with a purpose and understanding and recognising when there is a high press the space must be behind them, so it was great decision making by all.”

Jessup added: “Again, looks like a bit of miss-communication. There was something there that I couldn’t really put my finger on. I can’t tell from the line who was exactly at fault or who played him onside but again the amount of experience we’ve got in that back line, it’s a disappointing goal to concede.”

Snodland Town did win the corner-count by 9-4, with seven coming in the second half but they created an off-target chance with their first flag kick with 30:14 on the clock.

Matthew Self delivered a deep outswinging corner from the right and the ball came out to central midfielder Reggie Rye, who cracked a right-footed rasping drive screaming across the keeper and past the far post from outside the penalty area.

Jessup admitted: “For me that sums up the game. I think we get that goal, it’s a completely different game.

“What we have shown this group of late is that a bit like last week (losing 3-1 at Tunbridge Wells), we go and score. We’ve got all the run of the play, we’re excellent but then as soon as we score we don’t look like we’re full of confidence and then we sit back and soak up the pressure.

“But at 2-0 there, we go and score that goal and I think it gives us a lease of life but if anything it sort of took the wind out of our sails and we progressively got deeper and deeper.”

However, Friend opened the gate, as Phoenix Sports raced into a three-goal lead with 30 minutes and 53 seconds on the clock.

Fisher (who finished the game as a lone central striker) slipped the ball through in behind the slow Friend to put Brissett through on goal and he cut into the middle before placing his low right-footed drive from 18-yards into the bottom left-hand corner, with Justin Lee rooted to the spot.

“Again, another great goal. Another great bit of play. I can only say how our play was through the whole first half – it was ruthless,” said Goodman, who was then asked whether he is happy with Brissett’s 14-goal haul for the campaign.

“I knew when he came in here, I knew what I was signing, obviously playing with him last season. I knew what he could do and profiling of play and how we want to play, so we’re playing to players’ strengths.”

Jessup said: “I know it looks like we’re a little bit fragile at centre-back.  We haven’t shown the right desire to get out to the ball. I knew previous to that, I think there’s a couple of players that are maybe are guilty of not going and closing him down and not helping out at all. I’m not blaming the keeper for that one at all – we haven’t done enough!”

Phoenix Sports notched their fourth goal with their next attempt, coming with 41 minutes and 53 seconds on the clock, punishing the home side through direct play and more awful defending.

There were plenty of bodies within the Phoenix half and right-wing-back Paul Lee smashed a long ball forward from his own defensive channel.
 

The impressive Brissett charged up the hill, embarrassed an awful Hill with a sublime turn inside the penalty area before putting it on a plate for an unmarked Fisher, who rifled a first time left-footed drive into the top left-hand corner.

“It seems like the same answer, yes, again really good play, recognising when there was a press, when to play through it, around it or over it.  Our decision making was on point today,” added Goodman.

Jessup added: “It was poor. It was poor at centre-back there. We should know better.  We’ve dived in, we could’ve maybe stood him up. We’ve got the size advantage as well and I don’t think we’ve done enough there to keep him out of the box or keep him at least subdued until we get some players back but yes we were nowhere near it!”

Goodman was spotted for pushing four-goal striker Christopher Alhassan on the very corner of the penalty area and Self’s resulting left-footed free-kick bounced right in front of goalkeeper Ryan McCourt, who got his body behind the ball and stooped the ball towards safety (44:22).

“Even from last week, I don’t think we’re troubling those keepers enough. I mean the chances that you’ve mentioned are half-chances aren’t they?  They’re not good chances or great chances. We’re not ruthless enough or creating enough opportunities there,” admitted Jessup.

Goodman added: “Ryan’s been good since he’s come in, fantastic addition to the group. He’s very calm in moments, his technique and his saving he always puts his body behind the ball so there’s never really a mistake there that will happen.”

This brilliant Phoenix Sports first half performance saw them score their fifth goal with five minutes and 46 seconds into stoppage time, with a counter-attacking sweeping move.

A high Barnes played the ball into Jensen Grant who played the ball out to Harris on the right and he slipped the ball through to Barnes, who superbly dinked his first time shot over the goalkeeper – who stood on the very corner of the six-yard box to narrow the angle – into the far corner.

“Great bit of a breakaway because I know they had a corner and we broke. Normally we say to Barnsey to be staying, not get up there. Great weight of pass in behind and another great finish,” added Goodman, who was asked the extent of Barnes’ hamstring injury.

“Precautionary, just being sensible. He said ‘he could play on’ but we didn’t need to take that risk. He said it was a bit of a knock to his hamstring, on the hamstring.”
 
Jessup added: “I remember that one. As I saw all the players running back but they were unfortunately Phoenix players running. We had three players trying to cover, I think four, maybe five and our centre midfielder has left the goalscorer run of off him.

“They showed a bit more desire and I thought that was patricianly a good finish actually from my angle. We didn’t show the right attitude or desire to go and make a difference or go and get in the way of it.”

All ELEVEN of the Snodland Town players lacked desire and heart and simply couldn’t be bothered to carry out the basic fundamentals of football during the first half and all of them put in awful personal and collective performances before receiving the hairdryer treatment during the interval.

Jessup and Fred Dillon hooked left-back James Teodorescu – who went missing for the first and fifth goals – Hill, Rogers and Rye.  In fact, all 11 should have been hooked, they were all awful!

The home side changed formation to three at the back (Harry Hudson (right), Friend (central) and Self (left) and put three new players in front of them in the shape of Loveridge, Jabari Christmas (who was thrown in the sin-bin between 34:47-44:07) and Liam Parle.

Snodland Town were without 14-goal striker Charlie Sheringham (unavailable), Sam Wood (knee or ankle) and Connor Dymond (suspended). 

Jessup revealed he read his side the riot act during the half-time interval.

“Some choice words were said. There was some home truths. There was some personalities that were checked and given words of advice in the strongest way possible.

“Look, I’ll be honest. I feel embarrassed. I said that to the players and they should’ve felt embarrassed too, which I think a few of them did feel like that but there’s just not enough people understanding what this club is about, what we expect and the levels that we will be demanding and ultimately, depending on what happens next season, it’s going, I think today’s answered a few questions about a few individuals.

“You learnt a lot today about a lot of player and bare in mind we are by no means out of it (the play-off race) and we haven’t given up but I think it says a different picture on the pitch.”

When asked whether he wanted to hook all 11 of his players, Jessup replied: “Not at all, that’s maybe a little bit strong but I get the sentiment.

“We made, and not really hanging anybody out to dry, we didn’t feel, like I said earlier, we’re not one person or one player was responsible for all five goals, they’ve come across from all different areas and hence why we felt that we’ll change it.

“We changed formation, we changed the personnel, we changed the tactics and arguably worked. To score the goal but that’s a bit of a shallow victory to say that we’ve won the second half 1-0 – it was nowhere near it!”

It was, however, a lot calmer in the visitors’ dressing room.

Goodman said: “Just be professional that was really it to be fair.  We didn’t need to say too much. Just be professional, look after yourselves and don’t get involved in anything.

“The amount of years’ I’ve played in football, I know it’s going to be one of those days where just maybe it didn’t go right for them because they’re a solid side, a real solid side and strong side. Maybe it was just one of those off-days, luckily for us but it is what it is.”

The second half was a non-event as Phoenix Sports declared at the interval, changing formation to four at the back and Snodland Town did at least bother to have a go and show some pride in the shirt and for their fan base.

Some players in the ninth-tier Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division believe they are better than what they actually are!

Bethel Gboda cracked a left-footed drive from 25-yards, which McCourt rose both of his hands and allowed the ball to slip through his fingers and bounce just past the right-hand post, with 96 seconds on the clock.

Left-winger Gboda floated in a deep cross towards the other side and fellow winger Steven Townsend – who played under Friend in the division above for Herne Bay – stabbed his shot across the keeper and harmlessly wide of the far post.

Snodland Town pulled a goal back, with seven minutes and 47 seconds on the clock, through a fluke and a goal similar to the first goal of this game.

Loveridge played a short corner to Townsend, who played the ball back to Loveridge, who whipped in a left-footed cross-shot which sailed over McCourt (who got fingertips to the ball) into the top far corner from within the channel, some 30-yards from goal on the angle.

“That sort of sums up what we’re trying to say to the lads.  We give like a set of beliefs, a bit of understanding of what we expect but sometimes you’ve got to do something a little bit different and you can quicky be found guilty of doing the same stuff but expecting a different outcome.

“They played a short-corner and Zak’s just whipped one in and ultimately I haven’t got a problem with that and I’d like to see us do it more, like thinking off the cuff but we’ve had to give the instructions from the sidelines sometimes to do it.

“We’re not sort of thinking for ourselves sometimes and the one time we looked to do something a little bit different to keep a team off guard and we’ve got a result from it, where sometimes we maybe look a little bit predictable I suppose.

“We’ve only got one way, we’re going to get the ball and run at you and I think we need to look at different ways. We encourage it, we train for it but yes we didn’t see it on the pitch.”

Goodman added: “Sloppy goal, so really not happy with that.  It seems like we play really well and work really hard to get our goals, where at times sometimes teams don’t get that luxury.  We should be coming away with a clean sheet but it is what it is. I’m not going to be too disheartened with the one goal conceded.”

When asked about all six goals being scored up the slope, Goodman, who was sitting in the stand while being interviewed, looking out onto the pitch, replied: “Very bizarre! Maybe a bit of wind contributed as well. You can see the corner flag over there is blowing that way.

“If you can stick to your style of football, certainly going uphill which we did. It doesn’t really matter, the surface was really good. We were able to pass the ball, so if we’re keeping the ball on the floor, as long as there’s no bobbles, it will help out.”

Goodman’s coach James Marrs threw on left-winger Nathaniel Olawole for his debut against his former side and he latched onto Lyle Della-Verde’s switch, cut inside and twisted and turned four defenders before sweeping his right-footed angled drive deflecting past the foot of the near-post (28:51).

When asked about his debutant’s 25 minute cameo, Goodman replied: “He came from Snodland. Me and the staff have a plan.  The job was done, so we knew Nathaniel coming on, what he can cause and you could see it. Just his little touches, his movements, his dribble. He’s going to be a real good player for us.”

Jessup admitted: “Second half performance was like a million miles different. It was like chalk and cheese.

“I don’t think we need to have our backs against the wall, a gun to our head before we decide to go and play but I felt there was a little bit more passion in the changing room at half-time than where was shown on the pitch and that’s a problem for me.

“It needs to be shown on the pitch in the right way and that second half shown we were hitting more tackles, being a little bit more aggressive. We were getting around the pitch a little bit more, there was a little bit more of a directness about the way, we looked like a completely different team.

“But try to sum that up, I couldn’t really tell. I generally can’t understand what was so vastly different. I don’t think it’s just about personnel. It’s not always about personnel. I think it’s about belief and it’s something that we speak about a lot.

“It’s like we’re not a bad team. We’ve got great players but sometimes we just look like our hearts not in it.”

Friend was caught out again – when the home side were temporarily reduced to 10 men – when Kieron McCann’s hooked pass straight through the heart of the pitch put Fisher through on goal but his right-footed shot was comfortably picked up by Justin Lee.

Snodland Town created a chance to score a flattering second (46:51) when Hudson’s long diagonal ball out of defence was met a free header from substitute striker Kian Scott, which McCourt stuck out a strong right-hand to push away, which pleased Goodman.

“It’s just what we expect from Ryan. He’s been fantastic. I think it was going wide but he’s got to do what he thinks is right, is to make sure it doesn’t go in.”

When asked about his side’s second half performance, Goodman replied, “Really controlled. It’s always one of them where you sort of play well, it felt like we took our foot a little bit off the gas. We knew the job was done in the first half, so it’s just about managing the rest of the game.

When asked whether he had a message to the Snodland Town fans who paid money to watch his side’s awful first half kickabout, Jessup clearly read the room, replying, “What message? Well, an apology certainly for the first half, an apology, that will be the first one.

“I don’t expect that. I know Fred doesn’t expect that and no one should expect that or take it as an ok thing to do or brush it under the carpet.  Trust me, that wasn’t brushed under the carpet at half-time and it won’t be brushed under the carpet tomorrow when we get the lads in ready for a little bit of organisation for Monday.”

Jessup revealed he didn’t plan to get his players in on Easter Sunday, which isn’t usually the norm for this level of football, ahead of Monday’s home clash against Darren Blackburn’s Hollands & Blair, where Jessup used to manage.

“We will be looking to pull up every tree, do everything we possible can within our power to make sure that we ready.

“I’ve got a little bit of a personal interest in the game on Monday and I’ll make sure that whatever happens that we are going to be a completely different team, ready to go on Monday.

“I hope we beat them convincingly, that’s what I’m hoping for. By the way that’s what we’re capable off, very capable off but at the minute I can’t really tell you exactly what team is going to turn up.

“I think you saw a reaction there second half. There was a reaction at half-time in the dressing room. There’s a reaction throughout the pitch and there was a little bit more pride and desire shown in the second half and now me and Fred have got some big decisions to make, personnel mainly but rest assured the message to the fans is we’re not saying that’s ok by any stretch of the imagination!

The race to see who will join champions Whitstable Town in the Isthmian League South East Division via the play-offs enters the final month.

Fisher – 1-0 winners at Whitstable Town courtesy of Lorenzo Duncan’s 22^nd goal of the season from left-back – remain in second-place with 58 points from 31 of 36 games.

Bearsted (55 points from 32), Larkfield & New Hythe – who thrashed now officially relegated side Hythe Town 4-0 – (53 points from 32) and Challenge Cup winners, Rusthall (50 points from 30) remain in the play-off zone tonight.

Phoenix Sports (49 points – 13 wins, 10 draws and nine defeats) are now in sixth and they are followed by Sutton Athletic (49 points from 32), Hollands & Blair (48 points from 32), Punjab United (47 points from 30) and Tunbridge Wells (46 points from 31).

Erith & Belvedere are in eleventh-place with 43 points from 32 games, while Snodland Town drop one to 12^th place with 43 points (12 wins, seven draws and 12 defeats) and have now lost four of their last five games.

Snodland Town end their campaign against Hollands & Blair (home, 6 April), Fisher (away, 11 April), Chislehurst Glebe (away, 18 April), Rusthall (home, 21 April) and Punjab United (home, 25 April).

“I still think we’re in it, we haven’t given up,” insisted Jessup but this game proved to everyone that Snodland Town will not be involved in the play-offs.

“What I do say is we have massively dropped the ball there. We have f**ked up. We were firmly in and round it and nicely placed but it all depends how far you want to go back but our recent form guide will probably tell you everything you need to know. It’s particularly poor and it was firmly in our hands and we have dropped the ball on that one.

“But five games to go, 15 points on offer, you never know.  We haven’t given up. It’s down to us and things can change. There’s some strange old form going on, on a few teams that are in and around it and you never know. You never know what could happen but the message is we haven’t given up.”

Phoenix Sports, meanwhile, finish off with Chislehurst Glebe (home, 6 April), Faversham Strike Force (away, 11 April), Erith & Belvedere (away, 18 April) and Kennington (home, 25 April).

The Foxes’ management team of Frankie Sawyer and the Fray brothers were in attendance today and have guided their side (bottom five, 37 points – 10 wins, seven draws and 15 defeats) clear of relegation trouble having collected five wins from their last seven games.

“It’s ok, that’s all I can say to be fair,” when asked about his side’s sixth-place league position, a point adrift of the play-off zone going into Easter Monday.

“We know we’ve got four games to go and we’ll just worry about Monday and then once that games done, we’ll then worry about the following Saturday.

“They’re on a real good run of form, we know it’s going to be a very tough game. They’ve done really well lately. We’ve got an idea, we’ve got our plan ready and we’ll stick to that and we’ll try to execute that plan as best as possible.

“When I took over in October, we were miles off (the play-offs), really shouldn’t even be looked at I don’t think but that’s credit to the group. The group’s been fantastic, so to be in this position is pleasing.

“I came in in October and it was more about just building and we are still building. We’re under no illusions that we know in four months’ time we’ll be in a lot more of a better position than what we’re now.

“We’ve given ourselves a great opportunity, so we’ve got to be professional, maybe sacrifice a little bit more than what we would do ahead of the game on Monday with tonight and Sunday and prepare the best we can.

“I’m really excited. We know what we’re chasing, we know who’s got the targets on their backs but we’ll worry about performances. If we have four really good performances then the results hopefully, fingers crossed, will come but whatever happens we’ve got to make sure that we do everything right on our side and whatever happens, happens.

“It’s just about being sensible with our recoveries over the Easter Sunday. I know people like to eat a nice meal and Easter eggs, of course.  I know my wife’s going to have to lock that stuff away from me but it’s just about being sensible.”

Snodland Town: Justin Lee, Harry Hudson, James Teodorescu (Zak Loveridge 46), James Rogers (Liam Parle 46), Liam Friend, Josh Hill (Jabari Christmas 46), Matthew Self, Reggie Rye (Kian Scott 46), Christopher Alhassan (Emmanuel Shoderu 77), Bethel Gboda, Steven Townsend.

Goal: Zak Loveridge 53

Booked: James Rogers 20, Luke Hewitt 20 (coach), James Teodorescu 34, Zak Loveridge 84

Temporary Dismissal: Jabari Christmas 80

Phoenix Sports: Ryan McCourt, Paul Lee, Ben Morrison, Jake Goodman, Enyinnaya Ezenwanne, Ahkeem Belford, Taylor Fisher, Harry Barnes (Lyle Della-Verde 46), Jamarie Brissett (Nathaniel Olawole 65), Jensen Grant (Kieron McCann 70), Khayrie Harris (Theophilus Lukyamuzi 75).
Sub: Seanan McKillop

Goal: Zak Loveridge 53

Booked: Lyle Della-Verde 56

Attendance: 346
Referee: Mr Amarachi Okamgba
Assistants: Mr Benjamin Harrold & Mr Daniel Geary
Observer: Mr Mark Joy