Ryman Premier League relegation is a reality for Met Police and boss Jimmy Cooper is hoping the return of former captain Steve Sutherland can lead the fight against the drop.

The Blues, currently 17th in the table, host rock-bottom VCD Athletic on Saturday, days after exiting the FA Cup 1-0 at Ryman Division One South Sittingbourne in a first qualifying round replay.

Only the weekend’s visitors and Needham Market have a worse defensive record in the division this term than Cooper’s men, who qualified for the play-offs last season.

Sutherland, who quit the club for Dulwich Hamlet during the close season before a brief stint at Lewes, was part of a back five that conceded just 51 league goals last year.

Four of that defensive unit – including Sutherland – left Imber Court before the start of the campaign and it has taken until the veteran centre back’s return for Saturday’s 0-0 cup draw with Sittingbourne for the Blues to look more solid.

And now the manager, who watched his concede seven goals at Kingstonian earlier in the season, says the problem is at the other end.

“It is great to have Steve back and in his first game we kept a cleansheet – coincidence?,” he said.

“We lost four of our back five over the summer. It s tough when you lose the spine of your side.

“Hendon have had a similar problem and have lost five of their past six games.

“Defensively we are getting there, but down the other end we are just not scoring enough goals.

“We had chance after chance on Tuesday. We even missed a penalty. In the end we got punished and that has been the story recently.

“On the positive side, we had a very young side out so the future looks bright, but we need some experience.

“Our experienced players at the moment are not performing and that has to change.”

He added: “Looking at the league table, it does not lie.

“Saturday’s match with VCD Athletic is a relegation battle, which ever way you look at it.

“We need to put some results together otherwise it will be a long hard season.”

Cooper has moved to address the issues by bringing in former Maidstone United and Tonbridge Angels midfielder Nathan Campbell and Leatherhead’s Neil Barrett to bring some know-how to the centre of the park.