Cordice: I am not sure if they know what it takes to win the league

Terry Cordice has promised big changes after Faversham Town slumped to a nightmare 1-0 defeat at Stansfeld on Saturday – article courtesy of www.favershamtownfc.co.uk

Boss Cordice could barely believe his eyes as Lilywhite hopes of winning the Kent County League title suffered a serious blow in South London.

And now the born-again club have it all to do in their five remaining games if they are to win promotion to the Kent League.

A first-half goal from Terry Forsyth separated the teams at the close  but it was hardly a fair reflection of a game that Stansfeld dominated from start to finish.

Cordice picked a side to counter the physical nature of a big Stansfeld team that are known to take no prisoners. But the Londoners then blew his plans out of the water by playing Town off the park.

He admitted: "I still can't believe it. We were totally outplayed. I thought we were going to come up here for a physical battle. It wasn't a physical battle at all, they actually played better football than us - simple as that.

"We had players under-performing again and there will be big changes on Saturday. You can be sure of that. Something has to be done."

Defender Kris Browning and midfielder Dave Hockley were the two players to make way at Stansfeld on Saturday with Cordice and his assistant Peter Holder expecting a rough ride from the side fifth in the table.

Cordice said: "Kris has done ok but again, we just thought it was going to be a more physical game and so we changed it, putting the bigger lads in there and the lads who are a bit more fleet of foot.

"Hockers knows that for the last couple of weeks he hasn't been on top of his game so we thought we would have a change just to show we mean business. I don't want to play players just for the sake of playing players.

"We thought the lads would do a job for us but the pressure got to them. That's what it looks like to me and Pete. We are very, very disappointed - we thought we had lads here with capabilities. We've brought back the Cable boys to do a job and they were ineffective today. And I think that has gone through the whole team - we were ineffective.

"To be fair, they could have had two or three goals. They have hit the post twice and Tim Holmes has made a couple of good saves.

"We haven't really troubled their keeper. Right at the end James Holder had a chance but even if the referee had said the ball had gone over, yeah, we would have taken it - but I don't think we deserved it."

Town's run-in changed once again on Monday when County League chiefs postponed the club's scheduled trip to Norton on Saturday in favour of a home clash with Bromley Green.

Cordice is unhappy with yet another late switch in games but is more concerned about his players freezing on the big occasion.

He said: "I don't think some of these players have been in this position before. I am not sure if they know what it takes to win the league.

"At the moment, they are not giving themselves a fair chance. They are putting themselves under pressure. We have tried to relax them but they are freezing. Why? I really don't know."

Much of the pre-match talk ahead of the Stansfeld clash revolved around Cordice's possible return to steady the ship but he is happy with his decision to stay in he dugout.

He said: "I have heard all the calls about me coming back and being a calming influence but they have got to do it themselves. I'm just very annoyed with them.

"The fact is this wasn't a physical game. There were a couple of challenges out there, you expect that in football, but to be honest we were the first to put a foot in.

"It wasn't a dirty game - they outplayed us which really surprised me. I never expected them to do that."

Yet Cordice is adamant Town can still match his ambition and make good on his promise to win the league for Town at the first attempt.
 
He insisted:  "Of course we can still win the league. There are five games to go and that's 15 points. There's still along way to go.

"I think we probably need four wins now. Bromley Green is another big game and we will make a few changes. We have got to do something.

"We are just hoping that the lads who have been here pick their games up and realise just what is at stake.

"Maybe they don't realise the magnitude of what they are involved in. That performance today was 5 out of 10 - that's simply not good enough."

FAVERSHAM TOWN’S RACE FOR THE TITLE:

Saturday 1^st April:  H  Bromley Green
Saturday 15^th April: H Stansfeld Oxford & Bermondsey Club
TBA:  H Lewisham Borough
TBA: a Sheerness East
TBA: a Norton Sports