Blues paying for unforced errors

By Andrew Huey

Drop Goal breaks Whitstable hearts!

An 82nd-minute drop goal broke Whitstable's hearts at the Chaucer Ground on Saturday but there was little sympathy for the players from Mal Graves.

The Blues player-coach accused his side of making to many basic errors and said their inability to hang onto the ball continually meant they put themselves under pressure.

He said: "Foots Cray had a heavy pack and a 10 who booted the ball which is what they've always done but if you don't catch balls you'll end up scrummaging a lot.

"We made too many unforced errors. I can handle errors made under pressure but the unforced errors are killing us and it's been the same for a few weeks now.

"I know these lads can catch balls because I've seen them do it in training, so whether it's a lack of concentration i don't know. We've come up and maybe if we were getting beaten you'd have to say we're out of our depth but that's the biggest frustration because we're not.

"Up front we're winning enough ball to create chances, we're just making too many errors which are letting out opponents off the hook."

Whitstable made the perfect start with Graves peeling off the back if a scrum to send March Olive over in the corner inside three minutes.

James Garland added a second which Andrew Huey converted after 25 minutes before Olive claimed his second score around the hour-mark.

A penalty six minutes from time again from Andrew Huey edged Whitstable ahead 20-19 but Graves feared it would not be enough and so it proved as the visitors landed a drop goal two minutes into time added on.

The defeat leave Whitstable 10th in Shepherd Neame Kent 1 ahead of Saturday's home game with Sheppey, who are immediately below them with just one point.

Match report credit to KM group