Corinthian's a great club to play for, says boss James Collins

CORINTHIAN manager James Collins says he’s enjoying himself at the club.

Corinthian reached the FA Vase First Round after coming away from their Southern Counties East Football League rivals Beckenham Town with a 5-3 win at Eden Park Avenue on Saturday.

Corinthian’s reward is a trip down to Sussex to play Hassocks on 1 November, while attention now turns to their trip to Greenwich Borough on Wednesday night.

Corinthian lie in ninth-place in the league table with five wins and four defeats from their nine league games, while Greenwich Borough are in eleventh-place with four wins and a draw from their seven league outings.

Ian Jenkins’ side are warming up for their FA Cup Third Qualifying Round tie against a Redhill side on Sunday (1pm) that produced a cup shock with a 2-1 home win over Ryman Premier League Tonbridge Angels in the last round.

Corinthian travel to Princes Park in fine form, winning their last four games.

“The (original) game got abandoned and we were 1-0 up in that game. I know it was only 20 minutes but that was the start of our resurgence,” said Collins.

“I think they’ve won every game since then. They’ve got some very good players. I would imagine they’d be up and around it but it will be another good test for us.

“I know they’ll be in for a very good game, but we’ll go and play on a nice pitch, express ourselves, enjoy ourselves and see what happens.”

Reflecting on Corinthian’s position in the league, Collins said: “Delighted to be honest. I think after four games we might have had three points and we were seventeenth.

“It’s my first time back in this (league) since the Erith Town saga and you want to get points on the board.

“It’s all about confidence. We’ve got a complete new team. They have been targets set but we’ll just try to win as many games as we can and see where it takes us.”

Collins, 31, spent one season at Hextable-based Sutton Athletic, guiding them to third-place in the Kent Invicta League as well as a Cup double.

He said: “I’m loving it, really, really enjoying it (at Corinthian), it’s a great club to play for and that takes nothing away from Sutton because it was hard to leave there and I can’t thank them enough for giving me the opportunity.

“I hope that they do well and I hope they get out of the league. I wanted to test myself again at this level and I couldn’t come to a better club really.”

The FA Vase First Round Draw (involving our sides):
Ties scheduled for Saturday 1 November 2014:

Eastbourne Town  v  Erith & Belvedere
Erith Town  v Banstead Athletic
Fisher  v  Crawley Down Gatwick
Greenwich Borough  v  Hailsham Town
Hassocks  v  Corinthian
Lingfield  v  Epsom & Ewell
Lordswood  v  Knaphill
Tunbridge Wells  v  Rochester United
Wick & Barnham or Arundel  v  Phoenix Sports

Greenwich Borough  v  Corinthian
Southern Counties East Football League
Wednesday 8^th October 2014
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT