We’ve got no one else to blame, we’ve only got ourselves to blame, admits Beckenham Town assistant manager Billy Walton

BECKENHAM TOWN assistant manager Billy Walton has voiced his despair after his side blew their title bid.

Jason Huntley’s side reached the Kent Senior Trophy Final for the first time in five years after beating Jersey-based St Peter 3-2 in an entertaining game at Eden Park Avenue on Tuesday night.

They will lock horns with Chatham Town in the Maidstone Final on Sunday 14 April.

After beating bitter-rivals Fisher 2-1 in the Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Finals, Beckenham were held to 1-1 draws by Punjab United and Glebe before suffering a 1-0 defeat at Sheppey United.

As a result, Huntley’s men have slipped down the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table to sixth-place with 51 points from 27 games, 14 points adrift of leaders Corinthian.

Michael Golding’s side extended their impressive championship winning form to 13 wins on the spin and Fisher, Cray Valley, Chatham Town, Sheppey United and Beckenham Town are all playing catch up.

“It’s terrible! We’ve got no one else to blame, we’ve only got ourselves to blame,” admitted Walton.

“Personally, me and the players have let it slip. It’s hugely disappointing because I’m not one of these coaches that think we’ve done well finishing second or third but on the 29^th April you’re in the same league. I don’t want people to come up and go you’ve had a good season, you’ve come third, might as well come thirteenth!”

Beckenham Town got off to a flying start by winning their first nine league games but they have slipped up in the title race over recent weeks and host Cray Valley on Saturday on a run of one win in their last four games in all competitions.

“Our target is to win this (the Kent Senior Trophy) and to beat as many of these top teams around us as possible,” said Walton.

“The win over St Peter has given us the confidence to get back to where we believe where we should be, where this club should be and we’ve got all those big games to look forward to. We’ve got Chatham twice, we’ve got Fisher again, we’ve got Chatham here.

“I’m not let’s finish as high as possible – it’s a load of cobblers! What does that mean? Finish third or fourth or you finish sixth? Why do managers go on about I want to finish sixth? Where does that get you then? It might keep them in the job, I don’t know.

“But to me it means absolutely nothing finishing second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, tenth. If you finish second in this league come the 29^th April, you’re in the same league. You’ve got to win, you’ve got to be a winner.”

When asked what went wrong, Walton replied: “Why did it go wrong? I suppose it’s all of us!  We did have a few injures.  We had people that left, god know where they’ve gone. I hope they read this and thanks very much – and a bit of bard form at the wrong time.

“The start we had was unbelievable, nine wins out of nine and everyone was flying and it doesn’t matter you’ve got to be top in April. It doesn’t matter in September, October, November or December. If you’re not top in April you don’t get nothing!

“Perhaps our start was a bit too flattering. We didn’t play well in some of the games we won and in some of the games we played extremely well but then we had a bad patch and we drew too many games (six).

“The only difference between us and some of the top teams especially Chatham and Cray is when they play the lesser sides they absolutely hammer them!”

When asked who he feels will win the league title at the end of April, Walton replied: “Who do I think will win the league? I think Corinthian will win it and I hope they do.  Michael Golding used to play for me at Greenwich Borough so hopefully I taught him a few things and I can take a bit of credit from him!”

Visit Beckenham Town’s website: www.beckenhamtownfc.com

Beckenham Town  v  Cray Valley (Paper Mills)
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 2 March 2019
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Eden Park Avenue, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3JL