Chatham winger Ryan Palmer came up with an original reason for missing a game – he was going to Peppa Pig World.

Palmer was due to be away for Chats’ match at Glebe last weekend, with the trip booked before he signed.

It went down well at training, with assistant boss Darren Smith making up a Daddy Pig T-shirt for the midfielder, and manager Scott Lindsey certainly saw the funny side.

He said: “He was totally honest with me and said, ‘look, gaffer, I can’t play because I’m going to Peppa Pig World with my little girl’. It was quite funny.

“I’ve never had a player come up to me with an excuse like that. Fair play to him. He never told any lies.”

Palmer later made himself available with the Peppa trip on hold due to the bad weather.

However, his place had already gone to Harvey Brown, but then the game was postponed anyway.

Lindsey said: “On a Thursday night me and Carl Laraman (director of football) get two or three of the younger players in my office before training and do a little coaching session on the tactics board.

“We had Harvey Brown in and I’d just told him he was playing on Saturday.

“Ten minutes later Ryan came in and said, ‘I’ve got good news, gaffer, I’m not going to Peppa Pig World now’, and I said to him, ‘I’ve got bad news for you, Ryan, you’re not playing’.

“He’s a good professional and a great lad and he completely understood.

“He also knows Harvey’s been doing well and he was pleased for him to get a chance but then the game was postponed.”

Title-chasing Chatham are looking for a fifth straight win in Southern Counties East when they meet Welling Town at Maidstone Road on Saturday.

It will be their first league game in three weeks.

Lindsey said: “We haven’t played for a while so we’ve got to make sure there’s an intensity to training which demonstrates how we want to play.

“We don’t want to be rusty – we want to be ready and prepared.

“Games will come thick and fast now and we’ve got competition for places.

“I’ve told the ones who aren’t playing not to fret because everyone will have a role to play in the run-in.

“That’s why you have a squad. The reason they’re here is because they’re a big part of what we’re trying to do.”

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