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Ashford Victoria were denied the opportunity to remain as the league leaders in Division Three when their fixture with bottom of the table Brabourne Anchor was postponed. Assigned referee Pete Millen was unable to officiate the game and despite a frantic search to find a replacement referee, the game was finally called off on Saturday afternoon.

In a game where Victoria would have fancied themselves to pick up another three points, the Vics now drop three places in the table to fourth as the chasing trio of Ashford Cavaliers, Newchurch and William Harvey Inn all picked up valuable early season wins to go first, second and third respectively, although the Vics now have a game in-hand on the leaders.

"Yeah it was very disappointing not to play today, but these things happen over the course of a season and there's not a great deal we can do about it now" said Vics boss Ryan Mills.

"It would have been nice to have kept the games coming as we are playing well at the moment and are on a bit of a roll, but we will have to pick up from where we left off last week for the big game at Park Farm next weekend, and hopefully we will keep the winning run going".

Mills also voiced his concerns about the lack of officials available to the League at the moment, as two other games around the divisions also fell victim and were called off for the same reason.

"There is clearly a lack of referees at the moment, and obviously this shortage has already affected several games in the first three weeks of the season. I thought the referee numbers were at a good level last season, but they seem to have lost several officials over the summer".

"I have spoken to two refs this week who have left for other leagues in Kent, while three or four others have given it up which is rather worrying for the League in general. Hopefully a few more will make themselves available in the next few weeks and the problem will be resolved" added Mills.

The morning wasn't completely wasted though as Mills and his players took advantage of having a free week to watch Charity Trophy opponents Bromley Green in action at Sandyhurst Lane. The Vics face the Premier Division giants in two weeks time, and Mills was impressed at the standard of football in the hard fought 2-2 draw.

"I thought Bromley Green were very well organised and i was very impressed with the fitness levels of all of their players. They seem to be a physical side but also like to play the ball about too so it will be an interesting fixture in a couple of weeks for sure" said Mills.

"They will be massive favourites to win the game and rightly so, but i'm sure they will do their homework on us too and they would be stupid to under estimate us. But getting the chance to play good teams like Bromley Green is exactly the reason why we enter the Charity Trophy, and we did well last year in getting to the quarter finals, so who knows what will happen?".

Meanwhile Ryan Mills has confirmed that goalkeeper Mark Bennett has requested a transfer and wishes to leave the club as soon as possible. The 22-year-old only rejoined the Vics back in May after a season away, but has decided that his future belongs elsewhere following the arrival of Richard Coombes from Bliby this week.

Mills was keen to keep both goalkeepers until the end of the season when the proposed reserve team would have hopefully been accepted into the League, but Bennett made his feelings clear to Mills on the issue.

"I won't make public the discussions I have had with Mark, that's between me and him. I never intended to force Bennett to leave and said that I wanted two quality goalkeepers, but he wants to play 90 minutes every week and I couldn't guarantee him that this season" said Mills.

"It's his decision to leave and I hope he finds another team soon as he's a good 'keeper and probably deserves to be an automatic first choice somewhere. He's done well in the first two games of the season, but we have got to bring in new players to improve as a team and club and it's never easy keeping everyone happy".

Meanwhile Mills has moved very quickly to replace Bennett with approaching another local goalkeeper this weekend, although Mills refused to reveal the players identity until all the paperwork had been completed.