Minster fell short with the bat as they slipped to another Kent League Premier Division defeat on Saturday.

It’s five defeats from 10 now after Minster failed to chase down a seemingly gettable 219 at home to Blackheath.

More: Kent League Premier Division weekly round-up

Experienced campaigner Chris Piesley didn’t need to beat around the bush in his assessment.

“We didn’t bat very well,” he said. “We had a few batters missing, but we gave wickets away quite cheaply, that’s pretty much as simple as that.

“We had bowed really well, fielded pretty well, but just didn’t apply ourselves good enough with the bat. Fair play to them, they took a couple of outstanding catches and that changed the game a bit.”

Minster had won the toss and put Blackheath into bat, quickly dismissing the opening pair for just 11 runs. The Londoners pulled it back with solid third and fourth wicket partnerships but were all out for 219.

Three successive wins in June came from batting second but Minster were bowled out 30 runs short in 44 overs against Blackheath. Aron Nijjar’s run-a-ball 56 was the highlight of an otherwise frustrating innings.

A positive Piesley, who took two wickets, said: “We have picked up a couple of injuries which haven‘t helped but hopefully we can get back on track next weekend and get another run going because it is so tight.

“Nobody can really string a run of wins together. The standard across the league, everyone can beat each other it seems, everyone is much the same.”

Minster sit fifth in the table but Piesley is keen to focus on one game at a time.

He said: “You’ve got to keep trying to win every week, don’t try and look too far ahead, we may have been a bit guilty of that lately, we have to take every game as it comes.

“Don’t even look, we have to get Saturday out the way first and get a win.

“I’m am not much of a table-watcher anyway, we are certainly not in a position to be looking at it. We have to get Saturday out the way, do our best to get a win and hopefully you look back in a couple of weeks and we’ve strung three or four wins together again, but we have to take one win at a time now.”

Sandwich could do with some points to ensure they don’t get dragged into trouble at the bottom of the table. Minster beat them by 23 runs last time they met, successfully defending a total of 130.

“They are always competitive, especially at home,” said Piesley. “It won’t be easy, they don’t ever give it to you.”