Rochester & District League secretary Terry Lawrence has expressed his support for The Stag after Saturday’s 35-1 defeat to The General.

Mr Lawrence (pictured) admitted that the Combination Division result was a "ridiculous" scoreline but insisted The Stag, who could only field eight players due to work commitments and were later reduced to seven due to injury, deserved credit for fulfilling the fixture.

"I’m unhappy that a scoreline of that level should happen in our competition," said Mr Lawrence.

"It doesn’t reflect well on the league but it was a freak result. Now and again in local football you will get freak results and this was an excessively freak result.

"Work is the biggest problem for the league at the moment. Teams are struggling to field 11 players and it is very difficult to get players to fill in at short notice.

"I’m full of respect for the eight players who took to the field. Lots of teams would have said enough is enough but The Stag lads didn’t. They battled for 90 minutes and honoured their commitment. That says an awful lot for their attitude and character."

Opponents The General, for whom Luke Crooks scored 10 of the goals, were also full of praise for their opponents. Secretary David Almond said: "They were superb and the score was not a true reflection on The Stag.

"It was a bit harsh to be fair, but we would have done the same had we been down to eight players. We all sign up to play football and all credit to them."