Tonbridge boss Jay Saunders refused to shy away from his team’s shortcomings after their derby defeat at Dartford.

Angels enjoyed plenty of the ball in their 1-0 National League South defeat on Saturday but lacked a cutting edge as they failed to score for the seventh time in 10 league matches.

“Of course, it’s concerning,” admitted Saunders. “Last year we scored decent goals but actually conceded too many.

“This year I think we’re actually better defensively but going forward we’ve lost (something). The players that I’ve brought in haven’t produced in that final third, you can’t hide away from that, it’s fact.

“But all we can do is keep working hard and try and get one or two players in to improve us in that area and if we do that then we won’t be far off.

“I don’t think we’re a million miles off, we’ve been in games. We’ve played some good stuff but you’ve got to take chances at key moments in games, even at the end when we had the pressure, you’re asking how many clear-cut chances did we create and we didn’t. So, it’s got to be addressed.”

Tonbridge keeper Jon Henly had to produce a couple of excellent saves in the second half to keep his side in the contest.

But Saunders felt there was very little between the two teams.

“There wasn’t a lot in the game,” he reflected. “I didn’t think we started particularly well and I felt they were on top. They went into their big men who are a handful and you’ve got to try and deal with it.

“I felt we did okay with that but we then switched off defensively and they scored a goal. We grew into it in the first half and got on the ball which is what we wanted to do but, at the moment, we’ve got no quality in the final third.

“We don’t look like we’ve got goals in us and that’s the biggest problem. To get back in games you’ve got to score goals and we don’t look like doing that.”

Saunders hopes to complete the signing of a forward player at the start of this week and with no game until the home match against Hemel Hempstead on October 7, it will give his squad a chance to press the reset button.

“To be honest, I’ve been trying to shuffle for the last few weeks,” added Saunders.

“We’re not a club where you’ve got an unlimited budget to go and get players, if we bring them in then we’ve got to move some out, which is absolutely fine.

“If the right players is available then we’ll do it. We’ve got a lad signing on Monday which should go through and we’ll have him training with us all week. It will add to us in the final third.

“We lost Jeremy Santos on Saturday, we brought him back for his creativity and we lost him two minutes into the game so your plans you’ve worked on during the week kind of go out of the window.

“Those things don’t help and when things go against you, they go against you.

Report: Dartford 1-0 Tonbridge

“Even Rooney’s goal, I don’t want to take anything away from the lad but it went through someone’s legs. On another day, it hits someone’s leg and goes wide.

“When things are not quite going for you that’s the sort of thing that happens and we have to keep working hard and keep trying to improve.”