I want another crack playing Ryman League football, says Northwood - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Goalkeeper Steve Northwood, 29, is looking to get back into the Ryman League next season after picking up a Kent League Cup winners medal with Thamesmead Town yesterday, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Dartford based stopper kept a clean sheet as Thamesmead defeated treble chasing side Whitstable Town at Folkestone Invicta’s Buzzlines Stadium.

All three of Mead’s goals, scored by James Brown, Rikki Cable and Curtis Williams, were from inside the six-yard box, and Northwood admitted that he had a quiet afternoon against a jaded Whitstable side.

“I think it was probably difficult to motivate the Whitstable players,” he admitted EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk following their deserved win.

“They’ve had a fantastic season, doing the double is a fantastic achievement

“We had a point to prove because the last couple of games in the league we sort of threw away winning positions and we would have been a lot closer to them.

“I think we had a point to prove and we did that and we played good football on a really bumpy, hard pitch.”

Northwood, whose made 144 appearances for Cray Wanderers, believes he’s good enough to play for a Ryman League club - and is mulling over two options.

He said: “I’ve got a couple of options at the moment, but just need to make my mind up and not really got anything concrete so I don’t know, I really don’t know.”

With the season now over, Northwood revealed what he does - or doesn't do - during the summer.

“Me personally? I’m probably the unfittest man playing in goal in the Ryman League,” he admitted.

“I was in the Ryman League and now I’m in the Kent League. I need to have a week off and then I’ll start doing my own thing until pre-season comes around and then we’ll just do a normal pre-season, with another club.

“I’ll have a week away with the wife and my little boy (as) they’ve had to put up with quite a lot, travelling and bits and pieces whilst I was at Cray.

“We’ll have a week away and then I’ll give myself a week before I get to pre-season and get myself really fit and look forward to the new season.”

Northwood hopes his telephone will ring during the summer and a manager of a Ryman League club is on the other end of the line.

He said: “No disrespect to the Kent League but I played in the Kent League for four years, stepped up into the Ryman for two and a half years and enjoyed my time in the Ryman.

“The standard of football is better and that’s the league that I want to be playing in.”

Visit Thamesmead Town’s website: www.thamesmeadtownfc.co.uk

Visit Cray Wanderers’ website: www.craywands.co.uk