CHAMPIONS: Hessenthaler lays the foundations for next season

ANDY HESSENTHALER’S scouting network will be out in force tomorrow as he prepares for Blue Square South football next season, writes Stephen McCartney.

Hessenthaler, who has guided Dover Athletic to back-to-back titles, suffered his first home league defeat yesterday, as party poopers Boreham Wood sealed a deserved 2-1 victory, on the day that the Kent giants collected their Ryman Premier League winning silverware.

With Hessenthaler taking his side to Bourne Park to face Maidstone United tomorrow, his scouting network will be out and about watching players.

“I am looking at players, talking, I’m having players watched,” he told www.kentishfootball.co.uk yesterday.

“I went to watch a game at Welling (on Good Friday) to have a little insight of Conference (Blue Square) South football, so it won’t stop.

“I’ve got people working for me on Monday and we’ll do our homework and we’ll start to look at players and strengthen.”

But despite romping to a comfortable league title, the legendary Hessenthaler will be forced to wave goodbye to some of his current squad.

“Unfortunately the game’s hard and you’ve got to let players go,” he said. “They’ve all been a big part of our promotions and that’s the hard part as a manager, but you have to let your players go who have been a part of this championship team.”

One player hoping to earn a contract for next season is trialist striker Lassana Sidibe, younger brother of Mamady, who Hessenthaler managed whilst at Gillingham.

And the boss has high hopes for the Frenchman, who opened his goalscoring account for the Kent club yesterday, scoring Dover Athletic’s 56^th minute equaliser with his shoulder.

“I think the sponsors’ who gave him the man-of-the-match (award) got that spot on today. He was a real bonus for us today,” praised Hessenthaler.

“I was fortunate to pluck his brother Mamady Sidibe from France to Gillingham and when you look at what he’s doing now, this kid’s got a bright future and he hasn’t done himself any harm today at all and we’re well pleased with him.”

Hessenthaler has injury doubts for tomorrow’s trip to Maidstone United, and revealed he may make his tenth start of the season against the Stones, who appear to have blown their slim chances of clinching a play-off spot.

“There will be (changes), there’s a few games that have caught up the players,” he admitted.

“We’ve got a bit of a casualty list but a little old man may need a bit off a run out on Monday. Who knows? If I do, I’ll be ready.”

The Stones, who were defeated 2-0 by Hendon at Harrow Borough’s Earlsmead yesterday, are in eighth place in the table - eight points adrift of the play-off zone with only 12 points up for grabs.

And Hessenthaler paid tribute to Alan Walker, the joint-manager at Maidstone United.

“I’ve got friends there, Alan Walker, Lloyd Hume. I’ve known Alan for many years and he’s a fantastic guy,” he said.

“He’s had a tough few years with the injury that he picked up with his neck, but he’s a top gentlemen.

“They’ve still got a sniff of the play-off’s I believe. I don’t really know how they got on today, but they’ve still got a chance of the play-off’s. They won’t be giving anything up on Monday, a local derby as well.

“Hopefully there will be a few fans down there and hopefully we can put on a better performance than we did today!”

With his side on 95 points, Hessenthaler is confident that his side can break the 100-point barrier in their remaining three games.

Staines Town (79 points), Tonbridge Angels (69), Sutton United (63) and Carshalton Athletic (61) have cemented their places in the play-off’s with just three games left to play.

And when asked who he wants to join him in Blue Square South next season, Hessenthaler replied, “Well, I know a lot of people in and around that. Tonbridge manager Tommy (Warrilow), I know really well. For us it will be nice to have a local derby because there won’t be many, if any.

“But to be honest, Staines deserve to follow us. Steve Cordery was the first person on the phone today to congratulate us and I would like to see Staines go up because they deserve it on what they’ve achieved so far this season.”

Visit Maidstone United’s website: www.doverathletic.com

Visit Dover Athletic’s websites: www.maidstoneunited.com

Maidstone United v Dover Athletic
Ryman Premier League
Easter Monday, 13^th April 2009
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Bourne Park, Central Park, Eurolink, Church Road, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 3SB