I believe we will get out of the bottom four, says Thamesmead Town boss Keith McMahon

THAMESMEAD TOWN manager Keith McMahon says he wants a big performance against Metropolitan Police on Saturday.

The Mead suffered a 4-1 defeat away to Kingstonian last Sunday, a result that keeps the club in the bottom two in the Ryman Premier League table on seven points from 13 games.

Metropolitan Police came away from Bayliss Avenue with a point in a goal-less draw on 20 August, which was The Mead’s first point of the season.

The two side’s lock horns again at the same venue in The FA Carlsberg Trophy First Qualifying Round on Saturday.

“It’s a game I think we can win,” said McMahon.

“We are starting to get there.  Our work rate is better. We’re bedding in.

“We’re going to have (central defender) Lew Tozer back, which is massive. His been outstanding for us.  We’ll see how Tyrus (Gordon-Young) is in the week. We may bring in one other player in the week as well and we’ll look at that.

“We’re at home. We’ve won our last home game and we need to bounce back and I think we will.”

Thamesmead Town will scoop £2,700 if they claim victory over Metropolitan Police.

“We want to have any run at the moment if I’m honest.

“The money’s important to the football club. We let ourselves down against Sittingbourne losing in The FA Cup.  We should have won on paper, maybe, but we let ourselves down a little bit. It was a strange game.

“But we need the money and anything will be great. We need a big performance.”

When asked whether he thinks he should strengthen his squad for the challenges ahead, McMahon insisted that he already has.

He said: “We have been strengthening. It’s just getting them all out. 

“Ashley Probets, at left-back, is maybe five weeks away now. He hasn’t played all year so that will strengthen us.

“We’ve brought in Karl Beckford in midfield. We’ve brought Ollie Bankhole from Tonbridge, who didn’t have his best game on Sunday, I would say.  We’ve brought in young Javilon Campbell up front, who’s from Billericay and he was at Peterborough before, so we’re strengthening all the time.

“It’s going to be on budget on what we can afford and hopefully we should be able to bring one more in and see how we go from there, but I’m fairly pleased with the squad if I’m honest.”

When asked how many points Thamesmead Town need to maintain their Ryman Premier League status, McMahon said: “If you look at our start and look at the teams we’ve played, we’ve probably played eight from the top of those thirteen games so it’s been difficult.

“We knew it was going to be tough. We never expected to come here and come to places and set the world on fire but there’s fourteen or fifteen sides I believe we can get points off. 

“The top five or six – if they play on their day – we won’t!

“We took a massive jump. We’re a small club but if we can stay positive we’re not far out of touch of the others either. We’re only two or three points from getting out of the bottom four – I believe we will.

“I’d say, looking at other leagues, 40 points. It’s quite hard. We’re a quarter of the way there. We’ll be alright. We’ve got a few home games.

“The confidence isn’t bad in the changing room. We know what we’re doing wrong. We’re getting better.  We can play even against the top sides. We just need to sort ourselves out and we’ll be alright.”

Visit Thamesmead Town’s website: www.thamesmeadtownfc.com

Thamesmead Town  v  Metropolitan Police
The FA Carlsberg Trophy First Qualifying Round
Saturday 19^th October 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ