Lordswood beat Tunbridge Wells in the Southern Counties East Premier Division | Games against Sutton Athletic and Kennington coming up

Lordswood showed their defensive qualities again last Saturday in a 1-0 victory over Tunbridge Wells.

Matt Barman’s side are the only team in the Southern Counties East Premier Division with a single-figure goals-against record - an impressive feat so far for a backline that lacks experience.

An own goal won them the game at Martyn Grove on a weekend where many matches fell victim to the weather.

Barman said: “We have let in five in the last nine league games, that is with two teenagers and two 20-year-olds in the back four at the weekend, a 19-year-old goalkeeper and an 18-year old holding midfielder protecting them in front.”

With just one loss in their opening 11 league games, Lordswood have continued to keep in touch with the top teams, with games in hand over those above. But Barman knows not to get carried away.

“We don’t want to get complacent,” he said.

“Because of the way this league is, you could lose a couple on the bounce, that is when you are going to see who’s who. It will be who can turn it around - that might be the key to who gets in the play-offs.

“I was reasonably happy with the performance (on Saturday), I thought we were the better side first half, it was more even second half, not many chances by both sides.

“Both defences played pretty well. We scored from a corner, they scored a similar one but there was a foul on the keeper. There wasn’t a lot in it.

“We were playing in tricky conditions and fair play to the groundsman for getting it on.

“We didn’t want to lose a game where we are a few behind. We are a really young squad and we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves with fixtures. Some of the teams have had two or three, or even four more than us.”

Lordswood ended the weekend in the