Sheppey United manager Ernie Batten reacts to 2-1 Isthmian South East home defeat for his injury-hit side against Ashford United

Boss Ernie Batten felt his depleted Sheppey side deserved something out of their Isthmian South East match against Ashford on Saturday.

The promotion-chasing Ites, who were already without skipper Danny Leonard, lost one midfielder in the warm-up and another in the first 15 minutes before they fell behind after a controversial penalty was awarded.

Sheppey showed plenty of spirit and levelled through midfielder Eitel Goueth, only for a defensive mix-up to allow Ashford top scorer Gary Lockyer to strike in first-half injury time as it ended 2-1.

Batten’s troops, who gave first-team debuts to forward Zion McLeod and youth-team prospect David Johnson, even came close to a second equaliser after the restart, but the latter shot wide with an excellent late chance.

“I thought they did okay,” said Batten on the performances of McLeod and Johnson. “It’s a step up.

“Davey has come out of the under-23s and Zion has been playing for a Step 6 side (East Preston) - although he has been scoring a lot of goals for them.

“Perhaps there was a bit of realism there that, when you step up a couple of levels, it gets a lot harder. But they worked hard.

Report: Sheppey 1-2 Ashford

“Davey had a great chance right near the end, just prodding it past the far post, when I thought he was going to score. If we had got that equaliser, I think that would have been fair.

“We deserved to get something out of the game.”

Batten felt errors proved costly for his team, with referee Michael Scott ruling Gil Carvalho had fouled Ashford’s Dartford loanee winger Gabe Campbell in the penalty area. Keeper Aiden Prall saved James Dunne’s spot-kick but could not prevent him from converting the rebound at Holm Park on a cold afternoon.

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