Chertsey Town 0 Colliers Wood United 4

The question of confidence and belief arose for Chertsey Town in Saturday's dismal defeat to Colliers Wood United, especially towards the end of rain soaked Combined Counties League exchange at Alwyns Lane where the whole of the home contingent was physically as well as mentally, drained.

The high turnover of squad players at present has done little to calm the nerves either and the euphoria of the previous Saturday's gutsy win at Ash seems to have subsequently been washed away with two stark defeats in four days.

Defending looks to be a key element with silly goals being conceded on a regular basis. This has resulted in 15 goals being shipped in the last four games with many of them being presented as gifts to the opposition.

Three of the four reverses on Saturday were a case in point, starting in only the second minute when a weak back pass by new boy Sol Patterson-Bohner was picked up by prolific striker Ramzi Bedj-Bedj who planted the ball pass the stranded Josh Lennie in goal.

Patterson-Bohner is one of three players signed in the last eight days, along side Aaron McLeish and Gareth Graham so it is not surprising that cohesion and understanding between players on the park is not at its best with consolidation and balance lacking.

Chertsey's title hopes are not quite on the rocks but a change of fortune or direction must come soon if the situation is to be retrieved.

The early set back did not seem to upset Chertsey's scoring ambitions and there was plenty of attractive forward movement but with no end product and a failure to deliver the ball into the opposition penalty area in numbers. It seemed likely that the early lapse could well be repaired but then the negative was highlighted again on 20 minutes.

A harmless looking clearance through the middle was not cut out and a simple flick on past two Chertsey defenders let Bedj-Bedj through again, and once more, he had no difficulty in slotting the ball past the lonely Lennie.

The gate to road back was opened up only two minutes later when a fortuitous hand ball decision led to a penalty kick being awarded to Chertsey.

Normally reliant John Pomroy stepped up but his shot lacked direction allowing former Curfews keeper Tony Oval to save to his right.

Even this further disappointment did not dim Chertsey's ambitions and although Lennie was forced into one good save off a direct free-kick from just outside the area, two good efforts at the Colliers Wood goal might have changed the landscape.

Patterson-Bohner saw his firm strike saved by Oval then a Steve Gibson header from a corner was cleared off the line, this time with Oval beaten.

A two-goal interval deficit, under the circumstances, still seemed retrievable despite Town's continued lack of bite in attack but yet another gift wrapped goal was set up just after the hour when an ill-advised attempted square pass inside the penalty area was intercepted to set up Mark Longley for the third goal for the visitors with Lennie left, for the third time, with no chance.

Lennie was deep in Mission Impossible territory but at least the fictional tasks set under that title were done within a team framework and with plenty of novel ideas. Chertsey displayed neither teamwork nor invention and so their performance fell away. Individuals did put in some hard work and some flickers of hope came through good flank work from Aaron McLeish and Steve Gibson but play again became too claustrophobic on the occasions Chertsey entered the Colliers Wood penalty area.

But it was the visitors who had the final say 10 minutes from time when they sliced through a dispersed Chertsey defence for Kris Chin to fire home the final nail prompting a hope for home fans for this to be the nadir of team performance.

Manager Spencer Day was as disappointed as anyone but the spotlight will be on his skill and resolve to redress the balance of an otherwise talented squad of players.