FA Trophy Special: Abbott enjoys Sittingbourne's away trips

Abbott’s men have an excellent 100% record away from Bourne Park in the league so far, winning all six on their travels, and they claimed a 1-0 victory at Ashford Town in midweek, courtesy of Tom Bradbrook’s third goal of the season.

The victory was sweet for Sittingbourne as the Nuts & Bolts are managed Steve Lovell, Abbott’s predecessor, and a handful of former Brickies wear the green and white of Ashford Town.

“All day Tuesday, I think I was more nervous than the players to be honest with you,” admitted Abbott, when speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk this lunchtime.

“I want to win every game and they know what I’m like and I want winners around me. I’ve got that in the dressing room now.

“We were so confident we were going to beat them.

“They had a couple of little half chances, but if you look at our chances, we should have come away with at least 5-0 or 5-1.

“I thought we were a lot better than them all over the park by a long way.”

Sittingbourne are currently in fifth place in the Ryman League Division One South table and they travel to Woodside Road on Sunday with confidence, bidding to knock out higher league, Horsham.

The Hornets, 12^th in the Ryman Premier League table, have won three and lost three in six league games at Worthing this season.

Abbott said: “We’ve got maximum points from our last six league games away, we’ve got a load of confidence at the moment.

“There’s no pressure on us, the pressure’s on them to beat us. We’ll go there and just play our game, get the ball down, play football, hopefully get some chances and put some goals away.

“They might have come and watched us at Ashford and hopefully they’re worried about us a little bit.

“I don’t care where they are in the league or what league they’re in. It’s on the day, it’s a cup game, it’s down at their place, so the pressure’s on them.

“We’ll just go there and enjoy it, play our game and we’ll see what happens.”

With just five points behind league leaders, Kingstonian, there is only one thing on Abbott’s mind.

He said: “We’re not worried about any team in our league. Kingstonian are going to be there because they’ve got the experience, but someone else have to go up as well and I’d like to think that would be us.”

Abbott revealed he is expecting to name the same side that started against Ashford Town, although Hicham Akazzan is rated 50-50 for the Trophy tie, as he suffered a slight calf injury during the Kent derby on Tuesday.

Visit Sittingbourne’s website: www.sittingbournefc.co.uk

Horsham v Sittingbourne
FA Carlsberg Trophy First Qualifying Round
Sunday 19^th October 2008
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Woodside Road, Worthing, West Sussex RH13 5AS