It’s a huge weekend ahead for Lordswood in their battle against the drop.

Lords sit second from bottom in the Southern Counties East Premier Division but emerged from a chaotic ending to last weekend’s fixture with three points to give themselves renewed hope of survival.

Richard Dimmock’s side were leading Bearsted 2-1 and on course for a much-needed three points when a penalty was awarded against them with five minutes left.

Mehmet Piro was sin-binned for protesting before goalkeeper George Bentley saved the spot-kick. They then overcame eight minutes of stoppage time before the whistle went and the points were theirs.

“It was a thoroughly deserved win and a big relief,” said Dimmock, who was appointed in December to try and save Lords from the drop.

“Had they nicked an equaliser all of that hard work would have been for nothing.”

Whoever finishes bottom of the Premier Division this season will be relegated while the team finishing second bottom will have their fate determined on a points-per-game basis, with the four worst performers from 16 step five divisions going down. Lordswood are currently one of those four.

Dimmock’s task is to try and pull them clear of the bottom two and this weekend could be crucial.

While Lordswood face bottom side Tower Hamlets at home, third-bottom Rusthall host title-chasing Sheppey United.

Lordswood will hope to have reduced the four-point gap between themselves and Rusthall down to one by 5pm on Saturday.

Dimmock knows that they’ll have to battle just as hard as they did last weekend in their remaining seven games to stand a chance of survival.

He said: “It is do-able, I said to the boys after the game, that is the kind of hard work you have to put in for the remaining weeks.

“You have to look at it as if you are going to war, it will be hell and if they can work their socks off like they did on Saturday then we will get more wins than we will defeats. They have to give everything.”

Lordswood made a super start against Bearsted with Grant Brown scoring direct from a corner on eight minutes and Zak Jakubowski slotting home a second goal with 14 minutes on the clock.

The Bears got a goal back in the second half but the penalty incident at the end of the game led to Lordswood being reduced to 10 men. Dimmock wasn’t impressed by the penalty decision but his goalkeeper rescued the day.

The manager said: “The referee didn’t give it, the linesman did and there were a few decisions in that second half which the linesman gave that I wasn’t happy with at all.

“The penalty was for a foul but the player took a dive. Thankfully George made a brilliant save.”