Chatham 4-4 Merstham

Chatham went into Saturday's home match with Merstham having scored just 19 goals in the previous 20 games, a pretty poor return and in fact the poorest in the league. They managed to score four times in this match, yet conspire to concede just as many, meaning both teams left with just the one point.

It's as shameful as it is remarkable that Chatham let this one slip from their reach. Its particularly harsh on Billy Shinners, who scored a peach to put Chatham 4-3 ahead, teeing the ball up and smashing it home on the volley from 20 yards. It was a goal worthy of winning any game, but Chatham's makeshift defence left him having to make do with that might have been. It was particularly frustrating as Chatham led on new fewer than four separate occasions, only to throw it away each time.

Next up are three key matches if Chatham (18th in the league of 22) are to avoid being pulled into a relegation quagmire, and they are Corinthian Casuals (20th) away, and Fleet Town (17th) and Whitstable (21st). Anything less than six points out of the nine available over the week will be bad news. Chatham are the second worst side for form in the league, with two draws and four defeats from the last six. We've proven on Saturday that we can find the net. Shinners and Huggins working excellently together, Shinners showing glimpses of being a potentially talismanic frontman. We just need to stop making so many mistakes at the back. Three of the four goals we let in against Merstham could be put down to basic errors and allowing the opposition to abuse the obvious weaknesses at the back. We need to unite and stop the blame game that we all saw on Saturday. Six points out of nine. We can do it.