Bearsted manager Kevin Stevens on moving beyond the 400-match mark in charge of the Southern Counties East Premier Division outfit based at Honey Lane

Life in management appeared a doddle for Bearsted boss Kevin Stevens after his first match in charge - it’s proved anything but over the past decade.

A 10-0 thumping on September 7, 2013, was the ideal start for Stevens. Over more than 400 competitive matches, there’s been promotion, a Cup Final and an FA Vase run for Bearsted under his long stewardship - along with plenty of lows.

“I was running the under-18s at the time,” recalled Stevens, who led the club, which is based near Maidstone, to Kent Invicta League title success in 2016.

“We had Crockenhill first, beat them 10-0 and I thought ‘This is easy!’. Obviously, that was a great start.

“It took us three seasons to get out of the league below but we won that and we’ve got in the Premier Division, where we sort of have established ourselves as a regular.”

More than 10 years on, after his 403rd competitive game, officials at Bearsted arranged a surprise presentation to recognise stalwart Stevens’ longevity at the club after their 1-0 Southern Counties East Premier Division home win against Corinthian last weekend. Defender Daniel Melvin got the contest’s only goal.

It was far from a conventional 1-0 win, either, with more than 12 minutes of stoppage time and the visitors finishing with nine players on the field.

Stevens was presented with a framed shirt with 400 on, a new watch and various other mementos in the clubhouse which dons plenty of photographs of Alessia Russo, the England Lioness who started her career at the club.

Asked if he had expected to be in charge this long, Stevens, who’s also Bearsted’s groundsman, replied: “Definitely not!

“I retired two years ago in February. Me and my wife, Lesley, were going to move to a little cottage in Somerset somewhere,