Bearsted eyeing step up
In focus
Things are going well for Bearsted under-15s.
Bears are second in Division 1 of the Maidstone Primary League, keeping the pressure on leaders Kings Hill with a 5-1 win over Lenham on Sunday.
They’re eight points behind the leaders with two games in hand – and they meet this weekend.
Luke Baptiste scored a hat-trick against Lenham, including a superb team goal which started in defence and ended with Luke Still cutting the ball back from the right.
Still and Will Tuffill also struck while Can Kanik was Bears’ player-of-thematch.
Manager Tony Baptiste said: “The boys are doing well.
“Seventy per cent of them have been with us since infant school and we like to keep that going at Bearsted. Even the boys who haven’t been here since the year dot have come from local teams like Madginford, so they’ve all known each other.”
Bearsted may switch to the Kent Youth League next season.
It’s a big step up but Baptiste feels his players would rise to the challenge.
He said: “I’m a great believer that the more you play at a higher standard the better you become because your standard rises as well.
“Players realise their standard needs to rise which it normally does eventually.”
The more ambitious players in the team are looking beyond youth football to the senior side, who play in the Southern Counties East League.
Manager Kevin Stevens used to run Bearsted youth teams and is committed to promoting from within.
Baptiste said: “Some of the boys have said they’d like to play for the senior team. Kev’s keen to look at all the boys and see how they’re doing and with the set-up at Honey Lane, he’s able to do that.
“They’d be too young next season but when they’re under-17s, it might be realistic.”