Lordswood went top of the Kent Youth League after a 3-1 victory at home to AFC Sheppey. However after previously beating the same team 10-0 away from home, it appeared that a degree of complacency may have set in and it was a below par performance from the Wood.

Sheppey came to the game very determined and well organised and battled for the whole game. They were winning more of the 50/50 balls and were showing more desire than their Lordswood counterparts. Lordswood's passes were often going astray resulting in little fluidity to the play, and there was a distinct lack of touch and vision as well. Poor decision making resulted in long balls being played all too often. Sheppey stuck to their task of trying to keep the Wood at bay, which they did very well, however Lordswood were their own worst enemy.

Lordswood created more chances in the 1st half but finishing or the final ball often let them down. One decent curling effort of note from outside the area forced the Sheppey keeper into making a good save.

Half Time: 0-0. Lordswood manager, Andy Slade said: "The crowd must have been wondering why there was a big points difference between the 2 sides in the league, and rightly so. We made a change at half-time but started the 2nd half in a similar non-convincing style and were quite anaemic."

Sheppey were still being dogged and competitive, but Lordswood did not seem to want to raise their game despite the half-time message to show more desire. And so it happened, on the hour, Sheppey took the lead. Poor defending and positioning at the back allowed the Sheppey striker to nip in beyond the defence and curl the ball over and around the Lordswood keeper.

"It was the goal that made us wake up," said Slade. "We soon made another change as we were now chasing the game. Very quickly we were starting to threaten and look more purposeful going forward."

Lordswood equalised on 70 minutes with a free kick from the edge of the box, aprecision effort scored by Lordswood's last sub of the game. Then 5 minutes later, Lordswood took the lead. An inswinging corner went straight in. "Quite fittingly it was our full back who scored, he was probably the only player on the night to play to his potential," said Slade.

Lordswood went on to add a third from the penalty spot. Regular raids from the Lordswood attack into the Sheppey box resulted in a foul, and the penalty was well dispatched into the back of the net.

Slade summed up: "We finished the night top of the league but it was not that sort of performance that got us there. Take nothing away from Sheppey - all credit to them for a valiant effort. Our goal was not threatened too much and their keeper was much the busier, but we were nowhere near our best and disappointingly some basic principles of team play were lacking on the night. We have to move on and improve on that display this weekend at Whitstable in the Kent Cup Quarter Final."