Sheppey boss Ernie Batten isn’t convinced Isthmian South East leaders Beckenham should even be in the league.

The sides meet in a top-of-the-table clash at Holm Park on Saturday (3pm), with Becks having made the most of a relegation reprieve.

They finished second-bottom last season but avoided the drop after withdrawals elsewhere in the non-league system.

Batten likes Beckenham but feels a Step 5 outfit should have been promoted instead.

“It’s strange because I kind of think they’ve had a bit of luck there where they’ve stayed up,” said Batten, whose side won 4-0 at Herne Bay at the weekend.

“Nothing against Beckenham, if it had been us and we’d got a reprieve, I’d be thinking is that right at this level?

“Surely somebody should come up instead of somebody staying up?

“I just think when you get to these levels, that shouldn’t be happening.

“There will be teams that have paid money to try and stay up and they’ve invested and really worked hard, and then a side that was more or less resigned to going down have got a reprieve and I don’t know whether that’s right.

“I’ve got friends at Beckenham, so if they read this they’ll probably have a go at me on Saturday, but it’s nothing against them, good luck to them.

“It is what it is, they’ve regrouped and had a great start to the season, I like what they do and it’ll be a real tough game.”

Beckenham, 3-0 winners at Ashford last night, are seven points clear at the top, albeit having played more games than all their promotion rivals.

Batten was due to watch that match as the Ites, who sit fourth, bid for a third successive league victory.

“Sometimes it’s on the day, it’s performance-led,” said Batten. “When these sides play at the top of their form they’re difficult to beat and the same goes for ourselves.

“I know that if we’re anywhere near putting in nines out of 10 we’ll have a real chance of winning most matches and that’s what it comes down to.

“I always talk about the performance, each player being responsible for their performance and their preparation and if you put that together in terms of a whole team, we’ll do OK.”

Defender Lekan Majoyegbe was man-of-the-match in Sheppey’s impressive win at Herne Bay.

The centre-back is improving all the time and, crucially, finding his voice on the pitch.

“He was excellent - faultless,” said Batten.

“I’ve said to him I think that’s one of his best games for Sheppey because he’s been developing in terms of he was very raw when he came to us.

“He’s a good athlete, willing to learn, he’s taken on board what we’ve been trying to teach him and, of course, there’s nothing like experience of playing games.

“The more games he’s played, the more mature he’s got and he’s starting to dominate, he’s starting to talk.

“He’s a very quiet lad but we’re managing to get him to express himself more and with that he’s reading the game better and he’s developing well.

“It’s very difficult to get people talking when they’re quiet but we say you’ve got to force yourself to do it.

“If it’s not in you, you’ve got to work at it and you’ve got to somehow bring it out.

“You’re never going to be naturally completely verbal and dominating but be the best version of yourself that you can, so he’s doing that and he’s coming along well.”

Danny Leonard and James Taylor struck in the first half, with Gil Carvalho’s penalty and a late Dan Bradshaw goal completing the scoring at Herne Bay.

The game was much closer than the 4-0 scoreline suggests, however.

“We took our chances and I think that’s a big thing in football,” said Batten.

“They had chances and we had chances - it was a relatively even game apart from the goals.

“You have to be honest about it but we defended well at a difficult place to go.

“I think that’s the first time they’ve been stopped from scoring at home for a long time, so credit to the lads and we move on to the top-of-the-table game.”

Striker Dan Carr is set for an MRI scan to discover the extent of his knee injury.

Batten isn’t expecting his summer signing from Sevenoaks to return any time soon.

“It could be months, rather than weeks, depending on the results of his MRI,” he said.

“It’s like any of the teams, if Ramsgate lost Joe Taylor or Ashford lost Gary Lockyer, we’ve all got our main man and it has been a blow to us, but we’ve got others.

“Dan Bradshaw has still got a lot to offer, we’ve got the young lad on loan from Gillingham, Harry Bridle, and we’ve got others who can play down the centre, which we did with Gil Carvalho on Saturday.

“We’ve been scoring goals from different positions, so it hasn’t been too much of a blow.”

Sheppey visit Erith Town on Tuesday (7.45pm).