Injury-hit Sevenoaks aim to bounce back

Sevenoaks Town return to Kent League action on Tuesday night after being knocked out of the FA Cup at the preliminary round stage by Moneyfields on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.

A well struck volley from outside the box from Nick Reeves wasn’t enough as Moneyfields came away from Greatness Park with a 3-1 victory and will host Southern Leaguers AFC Wallingford in the next round on 16 September.

But joint-manager Derek Moore insists his injury hit side will be looking to bounce back when they welcome Lordswood to Greatness Park on Tuesday night.

Both sides have a great incentive to win as they will climb up to fourth place in the table.

And with this game being the only Kent League fixture on Tuesday night, Sevenoaks Town officials will be looking to attract a crowd of over 150 to Greatness Park.

Reflecting on their FA Cup defeat, Moore told www.sevenoakstownfc.org  : “It was a disappointing result for an afternoon’s endeavour. We didn’t really apply ourselves from the first whistle in very blustery conditions.

“We didn’t adapt our game play to account for the wind and fair play to Moneyfields they ran out fair winners on the day so we wish them well in the future.”

Speaking about his side’s performance, he added: “There was a little indiscipline about our play at times, through frustration more than anything else.

"But one defeat doesn’t make us a bad side and we clearly showed in spells towards the end of the match that we were more than able to come back onto terms with a bit of luck on the day.

“But it wasn’t too be this time and we go back to league competition on Tuesday.”

Moore will be assessing the fitness of several key players before they take to the field against Paul Piggott’s side.

He said: “Courtney Rayfield has been struggling a little but with his hamstring and it was a calculated risk to start him. Unfortunately this time, unlike the win at Tunbridge Wells, it didn’t pay off.

“Courtney was struggling for all of the first half. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong and we got it wrong on this occasion.

“Frankie Whitehead took a heavy challenge in the first ten minutes. Moneyfields had clearly identified Frank as being a major playmaker for us and basically took him out of the game.”

But it’s down to the bread and butter against Lordswood on Tuesday, and whoever wins the game will climb up to fourth place in the table.

“We know we can do a lot better than we did on Saturday,” said Moore. “We will dust ourselves down and get on with life and we shall be going out on Tuesday night all pepped up and ready to go.”

Sevenoaks Town v Lordswood
Kent League
Tuesday 5^th September 2006
Kick Off 7:30pm
At Greatness Park, Mill Lane, Seal Road, Sevenoaks