Manager Dan Scorer believes Kennington may need more points to stay up this year.

Ton recovered from a slow start to finish last season with 37 points - well clear of trouble.

They have 16 points after 18 games games of the current Southern Counties East Premier Division campaign and sit 17th, three points clear of the bottom two.

Scorer’s side drew 1-1 at third-placed Fisher at the weekend, taking the lead through an early Kimsley Gatakata strike, with the equaliser coming shortly after half-time.

They’re improving but there’s stiff competition down the bottom with Lydd, Hollands & Blair and Lordswood all changing their managers.

“Looking at how the table is and the sides currently around the bottom, I don’t think 37 points might even be enough to stay up this year, and we ended up finishing 20 points clear,” said Scorer.

“There isn’t a side I think that are going to finish below 30 points, so while we’ve got more points on the board and we’re in a slightly better position, the table doesn’t lie and we’re in a dogfight already.

“We’re nearly halfway through our season, so we’ve just got to make sure the players continue to step up.

“We’ve got players that are 19, 20, 21 that, despite their young age, have played 100-plus games at this level, so you look to them to showcase a little bit of experience and show a level of maturity.

“There’s players that can easily look at themselves and say ‘I’m still young’ but you’ve also got a lot of games under your belt and you know what the expectation is from myself and what’s required to play at this level.

“Hopefully those boys continue to step up and I have to give full credit to the handful of older boys in the group because they are trying to pull these younger lads through.

“They’re offering as much support as they possibly can and trying to reinforce what myself and my management team are encouraging them to do.

“Hopefully we’re in a much stronger place now and we can continue to kick on and pick up some points this month and then into another tough month in December as well.

“It’s all to play for and, like I said last year, we’re not a side that are panicking about where we’re going to be just yet.

“We’re just going to keep ticking along and hopefully we have a run of games where we can show some consistency in performances and hopefully the results follow.”

Kennington visit Corinthian this Saturday (3pm).