A poor performance today and three points dropped. The first half was scrappy with neither side in control but the Angels had three good chances to score, on each occasion thwarted by the excellent AFC Mottingham goalkeeper - who was probably the MoM.

The second was much like the first, with very little quality football being played but halfway through the referee awarded a very dubious penalty to AFC Mottingham, which they scored although the Angels keeper will feel he should have done better. The Angels hit back almost immediately with a through ball releasing Hayden Velvick who rounded the keeper to finish very well.

Angels pressed for a winner but were caught out five minutes from time. AFC Mottingham were awarded “another” free kick which the Angels did not defend properly. Too many Angels players not marking their player or taking control, meaning that they had a four on two overload at the back post and subsequently scored with a header from no more than four yards out. Angels had one final chance, Velvick getting in behind their defence only for the Mottingham keeper to once again make a crucial save.

Defensively Angels looked better than in previous weeks but we did not control the game in midfield, constantly giving the ball away, turning into trouble or trying to play too much through the middle. On the few occasions we did get the ball down and played with some width, we got in behind their defence and created some good opportunities.

Playing in the Kent Youth League is a steep learning curve for most of the boys and this season is all about their development but they quickly need to start being smarter on the pitch, understanding the game plan and their roles in it, otherwise we will end up losing games we probably should have won – like the last two weeks.

Team: Laker, Neale, Poole, Cooper, Garside, Bennett, Honarvar, Kent, Rayner, Velvick, Gardner. Subs Amos, Cogan, Nguyen, Moth.
Scorer: Velvick (55)