He’s seen five red cards and had injuries to half a dozen senior players, but Ady Pennock can’t fault the determination and effort of his young squad.

With Ikechi Eze sent off around the 30-minute mark, it was déjà vu as the team battled on with 10 men for more than half the game.

And despite Aveley nicking a goal at the end of the match to share the points, Ady remained upbeat.

He said: “At the end of the game there were six or seven of them on their backs and knees. They gave everything again. I can’t fault them. We left everything out there.

“I thought we were very good and had a lot of chances and really should have been a few up at half-time and then had a lot of chances and half chances in the second half.

“If we weren’t creating chances, I’d be worried, but I thought we played very well.

“I was disappointed to concede from a long throw, as set pieces were all they had on the day.

“The boys wanted the win and I wanted the win. You sometimes think it would be better to get a draw, loss, draw, loss, than four draws. But I know we will start getting the wins soon.”

While five red cards clearly don’t reflect well on the team, Ady is adamant there’s not a disciplinary issue.

He said: “I really think three of the red cards were very harsh. Ben’s red was for being the last defender, but he had Sam Smith behind him. Michael’s red was for a hand ball when the player was 10 yards offside in the first place. I could go on. I think Sam Smith’s was probably right as it was two yellows, and I need to see the video of Eze’s before commenting. If it looks bad and he’s pushed him in the face, I’ll be dealing with it in house, believe me. You can’t be reacting like that, even if the challenge on our player was bad.

“But I can’t say we have a major disciplinary problem. They aren’t going out there fighting every week. I’m not telling them to rough the other team up. Apart from one or two, most fans would think we have been on the wrong end of some decisions and I hope we start getting some luck.”

Another area Ady’s had little luck in, is injuries.

He continued: “I don’t like talking about injuries too much, because believe you me, they change daily and you can be left looking silly if you say someone is fit and then suddenly, they aren’t. I also don’t like letting the opposition know who we have available, so I do like to keep these to myself as much as possible.

“For Saturday, I was expecting Ben, Michael and Sam back. Ben came to me on Thursday with a sore hip. Sam Oduadu wanted a fitness test at the game on Saturday and came to the match, but felt his knee wasn’t 100 per cent and failed the fitness test – and you don’t want to risk them on those artificial pitches.

“Michael was hoping to be ready, but felt he wasn’t quite there on Thursday at training.

“We’ve had Dan Smith out with a slight hamstring pull and then obviously Deano and Sammie McLeod, who are the two longer term injuries.

“Sammie McCleod is going to have an op now at the end of the month. It’s nothing major, but after the tackle against Gillingham it hasn’t felt right and he’s having a clear out around the knee, so we’re hoping four to six weeks for him. Deano is having an op too, but we haven’t got a date for that yet.

“I’m hoping to have Michael, Ben and Sam back next week and maybe Dan on the bench. If we can start getting some bodies back, we should see the results pick up as competition for places is crucial and we’ve looked a bit threadbare.”

Lastly, Ady had some words about the team and position in the league, as he looks forward to the next games.

He added: “I’m not going to make excuses. We want to be winning. We’ve had some bad luck, but apart from the Dulwich game we have been creating a lot of chances. We now need to convert these draws into wins.

“I think it’s testament to the players that they’re not letting their heads go down, despite playing with nine or 10 during so many matches, they are playing for the badge and giving their all.

“I thought the back four looked very good on Saturday and Joe had an excellent debut alongside George. He reads the game very well and is a good presence already on the younger guys.

“We’ll hopefully get some bodies back soon and I’m positive we’ll see the wins come.”