LATE goals have been Chalfont St Peter’s nemesis in recent weeks after dropping an astonishing eight points in their last six matches - including conceding goals after the 86th minute in four of them.

Two late strikes in the final ten minutes at home to Rugby Town on Saturday meant a 2-0 defeat for Danny Edwards’ side, while they also threw away a two goal lead at Aylesbury on Monday in a 2-2 draw with both goals coming in the final 20 minutes.

Edwards cursed errors in both matches as reasons for dropping points - but also talked of his players lacking the appropriate fitness levels that may have been acceptable in the Spartans South Midlands League, but not in the Southern Central League.

He said: "Our strikers kept giving the ball away, which put our defence under a lot of pressure late on in both games. We didn’t use our brains and players began to play their own way.

"But we have a dilemma at the club because I’m not happy with our fitness levels. It’s difficult for the club because we cannot reimburse players for their time training but they have to work. We try and encourage the team to take pride in their fitness, but we’re not in the Spartan league any more and some of them need to realise this.

"It’s been a learning curve for the players and coaches this season, and we’ll come back better for the experience next year. We’ll evaluate at the end of the season."

Edwards was able to field a couple of younger players against Aylesbury in order to give them experience for next season, but he admits this season has been his toughest yet in charge for injuries and sees this as another factor in their late demise.

He said: "We were third in October and we were right in it, but we’ve dropped off since then. I’ve lost five centre halves to injury.

"We’ll hope for a top 10 finish now."