Hollands & Blair boss Scott Porter wasn’t mincing his words over his side’s last performance - and hopes their season gets going this Saturday.

Blair were thumped 5-0 last time out by Medway neighbours Lordswood and after a weekend off are now ready to welcome VCD Athletic as they return to Star Meadow in the Premier Division.

Porter said: “The Lordswood game was very, very disappointing, considering that two days before we had beaten Billingshurst (3-1 in the FA Vase) but to be fair we weren’t still great, we got through because of a lack of quality from the opponents.

“As I do in every game, I felt confident going into Monday, but the lads let us down massively.

“We have set a new way of playing, we know they can do it, they just didn’t do it and the most frustrating thing for me was that they didn’t have the heart and desire for a derby game and my teams are always full of that.

“It was very frustrating. Decisions didn’t go our way, our centre-half Dale Davis came off with concussion and Dan Ellis (the goalkeeper) was sent off, one thing after another, but still the attitude and the mentality and the desire of the boys was poor, not what I expect at any football club, let alone Hollands & Blair, the way we are set up.

“They let the club down but the buck stops with me, I get the brunt of it. I am fine, I am the manager, I expect that, but I expect more from my players, especially with the pre-season we have had, how far we have come and what we’ve changed. A lot of players went missing.”

Blair were without a weekend game but that gave Porter time to work with his players on the training ground. Making the most of new signing Dean Grant will also be vital.

Well-travelled Chatham-born striker Grant, who has joined from Whitstable Town, was sent straight into the team at Lordswood.

But Porter said: “The signing of Dean Grant is a positive but he needs to be given the ball, we need to play to his strengths and we didn’t do that on Bank Holiday Monday.

“We are working with him now and we have had a good chat with the boys, they should know what we expect from them, hopefully, we can get our season going against VCD.

“I need a reaction but I am not going to get too beaten up because of the amount of games we’ve played [Blair are winless in four], we have a hell of a long way to go.

“There has been a lot of frustration, a lot of negatives, not many positives, but that is what training sessions are for. We trained well on Saturday, we trained again on Wednesday and we’ll go from there.

“It will have nearly been two weeks since the Lordswood game and in a way the training has probably benefited us to work with the players.”

Elbie-Joe Boichat and Sam Wright have both left Blair to look for another club.

Porter expects to have a youngster signed on before the weekend along with a goalkeeper, following Ellis’ dismissal and subsequent ban, which is expected to be for three games after pushing an opponent and receiving a straight red against Lordswood.

Kennington’s back-up goalie Aaron Lee-Wharton was due to sign ahead of the weekend match.

Blair are back at home on Tuesday night against Kennington, in a rearranged fixture. Ton’s ground at Homelands is not available due to ongoing work.