It's win or bust for Rams in Easter scramble for play-off's - EXCLUSIVE

Ramsgate boss Jim Ward has issued his players an ultimatum for tomorrow’s showdown with Bromley – win the game to keep our play-off hopes alive, writes Stephen McCartney.

Ward wants it to be a Good Friday at Southwood Stadium against a club splashing the cash to try to clinch promotion out of the Ryman Premier League.
 
The Rams go into this must-win clash in seventh place in the table and victory tomorrow will increase the passion for the Thanet derby at Hartsdown Park on Easter Monday.
 
“They don’t come any bigger!  This is why club’s want to get promoted,” Ward said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk on the eve of the showdown.
 
“What an exciting prospect we’ve got.  We sit in seventh place, tomorrow we’ve got to play one of the biggest clubs in Kent.
 
“They also sit in fifth place and then the tie against Margate on Monday, they sit in sixth.
 
“So before we go any further, unless we do well in these two games points wise, we will come off the pace.”
 
Ward tells his troops to forget about the Battle of Thanet on Easter Monday – they’ve got to beat Mark Goldberg’s side first.
 
“I can only talk about tomorrow,” he said.  “We’ve got Bromley in front of us tomorrow and we want to deal with them.
 
“The difference in resources is Bromley have brought in two players from Crystal Palace and we’ve had to promote two players from the under eighteen’s – but that’s life.
 
“We knew (what) the position was at the start of the season – we’ll just get on with it.”
 
Ramsgate cannot afford to let concentration slip against a Bromley side that’s seen their title hopes nose-dive in recent weeks, having bagged just eight points from their last seven games and tasted defeat last Saturday when Folkestone Invicta won 2-1 at Hayes Lane.
 
And any talk about Margate will be banned until 5pm tomorrow.
 
“It better not be at the back of any bodies mind because Bromley is the biggest game of the season,” said Ward.
 
“If we can’t deal with Bromley on Friday the play-off’s will be done and dusted so the Margate game won’t count for anything.
 
“It’s a massive game. If we can beat Bromley it really puts us in the melting pot.”
 
Ward will do anything to ensure his club bag three points tomorrow.
 
“I will be using every trick in the book, every ounce of my managerial experience, anything that will try to give me an edge,” he said.
 
“Bromley are filled with good players, players that have played league football.”
 
Simon Pettit, Ashley Burton, Will Graham, Mark Munday, Liam Morris and Michael Phillipps will all be on the treatment table at Southwood Stadium tonight.
 
And Ward will be rallying his troops prior to kick-off and tells them to stand up and be counted.
 
“Do your job, try your best and give us what you always do,” he tells them.
 
“Try to win your individual battles and play the game the way the game should be played.”
 
www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering Ramsgate’s games against Bromley and Margate over the Easter weekend.
 

Ryman Premier League table – Top 8

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS
1	Billericay Town	37	19	11	7	64	37	68
2	Hampton & Richmond Borough	35	20	8	7	63	43	68
3	Chelmsford City	37	20	7	10	83	45	67
4	AFC Wimbledon	37	19	12	6	69	35	66
5	Bromley	37	18	11	8	67	41	65
6	Margate	37	18	9	10	72	43	63
7	Ramsgate	37	19	5	13	60	54	62
8	Tonbridge Angels	37	19	3	15	65	61	60

 
 
Visit Ramsgate’s website:  www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk
 
Ramsgate  v  Bromley
Ryman Premier League
Good Friday, 6^th April 2007
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Southwood Stadium, Prices Avenue, Ramsgate, Kent