Sheppey United call up young goalkeeper for Faversham Town derby after league deny permission for step four replacement – Ites face Redhill in the FA Cup on Saturday

Sheppey United joint-boss George Batten has hit out at the Isthmian League’s handling of their punishing early-season schedule.

The Ites were forced to borrow a goalkeeper from Step 6 club Sheppey Sports for Monday’s Swale derby defeat at Faversham - putting an inexperienced keeper in against a side scoring goals for fun.

Sheppey went down 3-2 at Salters Lane having been denied the chance to bring in emergency goalkeeper cover after Harley Earle was taken to hospital following Saturday’s FA Trophy win at Beaconsfield.

With centre-half Harlain Mbayo also unavailable, the Ites were dealt another blow when Josh Wisson was forced off injured against Faversham.

They were forced to call up Sheppey Sports keeper Jobie Farr, who Batten praised for his performance.

But the Sheppey boss believes the league should have shown more flexibility given the number of fixtures clubs are being asked to play.

“It’s absolutely crazy because the league are expecting you to play two games a week for the first three months of the season,” said Batten.

“Plus, if you get through in the cups, you’re probably going to play two games a week for four months of the season.

“Our goalkeeper got taken to hospital on Saturday, and we contacted the league to say, ‘look, the goalkeeper’s been taken to hospital’.

“It was like a very blunt response, as if to say, well, that’s not their problem. We thought they would let us sign an emergency goalkeeper.

“‘Have you got one in your youth system?’ [they said].

“It’s a big expectation for us to keep playing twice a week, for the first three months of the season.

“But they’ve given absolutely no leeway when our goalkeeper’s been taken to hospital and we need to bring somebody else in.”

The timing of Monday’s Bank