REPORT FROM MEDWAY MESSENGER - THURSDAY 28th NOVEMBER 2019
Lordswood boss Darren Anslow didn't know whether to laugh or cry after their Kent Senior Trophy win last weekend.
Lords' young guns were at their best to race into a 3-0 lead against K Sports but two late goals and a missed penalty meant a nervy finale.
Anslow said: "We've got such a young side but they've got to learn the non-league side of seeing a game out.
"They play like they are playing FIFA at home on the PlayStation at times - you can be all-out attack because it doesn't matter as there is another game coming along in a minute.
"I want to watch the first 70 minutes again when we turn up this Saturday and not the last 20.
"But they're at an age where it's going to be a learning process and it's something we've got to deal with.
"We've got to accept that it's a young side. Apart from Rob Gillman and Marlon Patterson, the oldest player last weekend was 21 or 22 and we had a few 18 year olds in there."
Anslow was due to address Lordswood's shortcomings in training ahead of their trip to Punjab United in the Southern Counties East Premier Division on Saturday.
"We've got to work on it in training," he added. "When we're in that position again we need to be more professional.
"We're very attacking and I don't want us to play any other way but there are ways of controlling games. It totally changed the chat at the end of the game as well. Although it's not bad in a way because it means you go into the next game knowing that everything isn't perfect.
"You can take your eye off the ball if that happens so it's a learning curve in that sense too."
Lordswood are also still in the Challenge Cup, with the draws for that and the Trophy due to be announced in the coming days.
Anslow added: "If we play like we did in the first 70 minutes against K SPorts then I don't think it matters who we get as i reckon we'd be in the next round.
"The cups are our real chance of achieving something but we want to take that form into the league as well.
"Punjab have picked up a couple of results recently and when we played them earlier in the season I felt they were in a false position.
"They beat Welling Town last weekend so are going to be full of confidence."
Punjab United have announced that Saturday's game will be a fundraising event with all gate receipts and programme sales being donated to the "Dig Deep for Denny" appeal. Denny is just 6 years old and has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, a condition for which there are no curative treatment options left for Denny available on the NHS. His only hope is to have treatment in America, but this will cost in excess of £500,000, and time is fast running out.
