Tom Richford admits Canterbury are “a cat down to the last of their nine lives” as they battle to avoid national Premier Division relegation.

The rock-bottom city club suffered heartbreak on Sunday as they allowed a 1-0 lead to slip to a late 2-1 defeat to Hampstead & Westminster to sit eight points adrift in the automatic relegation place with just six games to play.

Skipper Richford admitted: “We played well. We had 80% of the possession, we dominated the game but had five or six short corners and couldn’t take advantage of them, whereas they took two of their three chances.

“They were clinical and it won them the points. We know now we can’t rely on performances, it’s points that are the only thing that matter now.”

Four of their remaining fixtures are at home, the first of which is against fourth-placed Wimbledon, coached by ex-Canterbury coach David Bunyan, on Sunday
(12.45pm).

Richford added: “We’ve talked about it and we consider ourselves to be like a cat with nine lives but we’ve already used eight of them. We have to make the last one
count."

Richford also backed the trio of new international arrivals to shine, after Mexican import Paco, Pakistan star Adnan Zakir and Aussie Craig Boyne impressed on their competitive debuts against Hampstead.

He said: “They all did well but we’re hoping with even more time playing together, they will get even better.”