Following Welling’s abject display at Whitehawk, co-caretaker manager Tristan Lewis pulled no punches.

“You could say that there were a couple of half chances in the first half, but I think we could be here until next week and not score.” he said. “We tried to bring in two (players) of more proven quality. We’re gutted that one of them turned us down who’s score 20 odd goals in League 2 last year. We thought we were close on that.

“What we’ve had on the pitch should be good enough but, ultimately, results and facts tell the story, we haven’t scored for three games. I thought that Tuesday night and today, the back four, you can’t throw anything at them, and Chris, it was another good free kick that has beaten us, but let’s be honest, if you don’t score goals at the other end, eventually you’re going to come unstuck.

“I think that goal was coming during the game, to be honest, and they deserved a goal in that period but we didn’t throw anything at them, second half. We didn’t make a go of it. People have been given an opportunity, make the substitutions early to try and have an impact and everybody, including the staff, have got to take a long look at themselves and think are they doing everything they can to get us out of this situation.

Although one point won against the top seven teams might not bear it out, Lewis said “I think we  seem to be better against the better sides. The supporters who travelled down didn’t deserve to watch, certainly the second half they saw today. I just could not believe how lack lustre we were as an attacking threat in the second half. We’ve given four wingers a chance to play today, although admittedly Harry (Crawford) and Dan (Walker) aren’t natural wingers. I thought Vas (Karagiannis) and Rhys (Murrell-Williamson) were really disappointing.

“Despite two big lads up front, we weren’t even getting balls in the box. Sometimes you have to take it on the chin, and other times you’ve got to say ‘that’s not right’ and I think that it was one of those today. Whatever needs to be done, needs to be done quickly.

“The first thing we need to address is why we’re not scoring goals. That’s three games, and any team that does not score in three games has got a problem. Tuesday night was good, and the last two games goalkeepers have made some great saves against us but the goalkeeper could have gone home at half time. He’s not had to make a save.”

He then addressed the thorny issue of time keeping. “Three of the boys got here at ten past two today.” Earlier in the season, Christian Nanetti arrived late and was dropped. Lewis said “I think that we probably shot ourselves in the foot that day, and on reflection we decided that the game was too important to do that today. We’ve said to the lads that we think that they owed us today and I don’t think that they delivered.

“It’s a lack of discipline. It’s a long journey and there was a crash but I was here at one o’clock and the rest of the lads were here at one o’clock so they’ve had a bit of a home truth said to them.

“I thought that Michael (Thalassitis) should have been sent off at the end and I think that all in all, there’s been some issues today that need to be resolved. Their number eleven should have been sent off earlier in the game, but would that have made a difference to us scoring a goal? No.

“Losing (Jamie) Slabber early in the game (to injury) wasn’t ideal because you’ve used up a sub. He can be a threat up there. I though Alex (Cathline) was really disappointing second half. He’s been a gamble. There was another Conference South club who were trying to sign him. If he’s involved on Tuesday (Kent Senior Cup game against Bromley) he’s certainly got to more than what he did today.”

When questioned about whether the incoming players were giving the team more than Archie Johnson (who has gone on dual registration to Thamesmead to play games) might, Lewis said “On today, no. I thought the two wide players were really disappointing in the first half. We took them off early in the second half because I didn’t think that they were giving us enough.

“Did they give us enough on Tuesday night? Possibly not but I thought that the game was a good game. The one thing we need is heart and soul and that’s certainly something that he gives. It was embarrassing, the second half, it was a shambles of a performance.”

Picture supplied by David Brown.