Kentish Football 
Kent rivals both "confident" of winning dog-fight - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS
Two Kent sides lock horns in a relegation dog-fight at Maidstone Road on Tuesday night, but both Chatham Town and Ashford Town are confident that they will ease their way out of the bottom four, writes Stephen McCartney.
Since winning 3-1 at Walton Casuals on 9th December, Chatham Town have collected just four draws from their last eight Ryman League Division One South outings.
But they go into the Kent showdown against a resurgent Ashford Town side that are just two points behind them in 20th place with confidence, following yesterday’s goal-less draw against fourth placed side Fleet Town.
Chats’ boss, Phil Miles, admitted EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk that he was “really pleased” with the draw against a side that are challenging for promotion.
“Everybody played well, the attitude was fantastic, motivation was there,” he said.
“We were strong, created numerous chances, unfortunately didn’t take any of them.
“It was a good, all round performance and we just need to carry it on for Tuesday night, which will be another tough game for us.”
Miles, whose side are hovering just four points above the drop zone, insists that his side must be more consistent to stave off relegation.
“At the moment there all must-win games to be honest,” he said. “Although a point yesterday was nice, the position we’re in we have to pick up three points.
“We’re not going to go on a six-match unbeaten run but we need to pick up points in the position we’re in.
“If we can play like yesterday for the rest of the season then we will be safe.
“I’ve said it before it’s all about consistency. We were good at Croydon Athletic, no problems. Met. Police, not very good, yesterday was very good but I want that on Tuesday.
“We need a very good performance on Tuesday night then we’ve got a very good chance of winning the game.
“There’s no in between in this league. You make mistakes you get punished.”
Miles has recently wheeled and dealed in the transfer market and handed another two players their debuts against the Hampshire side.
Former Gravesend & Northfleet youth team defender Sam Groombridge, whose had recent Kent League experience at Sevenoaks Town (last season) and Thamesmead Town, and wing-back Drew Watkins, whose played Ryman League football with Cray Wanderers, Folkestone Invicta, Tonbridge Angels and had a recent spell with Ashford Town, made a good impression on Miles.
“I was pleased yesterday with a clean sheet, there were lots of plus points,” he said.
“Generally it was a great team performance. I emphasised to the lads that they need to do that on Tuesday night to give us half a chance.”
In recent weeks, Ian Hillarie (Tonbridge Angels), Mike McKenna (Gravesend & Northfleet via Lordswood) and Danny White (Dartford) have all arrived at Maidstone Road in a bid to avoid the drop.
But defender Wayne Brown, the former player-manager at Kent League side Erith & Belvedere, has been ruled out for up to ten days with a hamstring injury.
Another defender, Rob Goodger (tight hamstring) is rated 50/50 to play against Ashford Town.
But Danny Larkin has been drafted into the squad after serving his one-match ban.
Miles added: “I’m confident in the team. I’m confident that if we play to our full potential we will get something out of the game - win or draw
“We created five or six chances against Fleet, which I was happy about but the disappointing fact was we didn’t score any.
“We are going in the right direction. But whether we win or lose to Ashford Town on Tuesday night that’s not the end of the world but we will battle on until the end of the season.”
Ashford Town, meanwhile, climbed out of the drop zone following their deserved 2-1 win over Metropolitan Police at the Homelands yesterday.
The Nuts & Bolts welcome Dover Athletic to the Homelands on Saturday but manager John Cumberbatch cannot look that too far ahead as his side must win at Chatham Town on Tuesday night.
“Hearing that they drew with Fleet, I think that’s a good result for them because Fleet are a very good side,” Cumberbatch said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk after Saturday’s win, their sixth league win of the season.
“Chatham will be quite confident being on their own ground but having said that we’re full of confidence at the moment.
“We’re always confident we can turn things around so it will be an interesting game.”
The visit of Dover Athletic will attract the biggest crowd of the season to the Homelands next Saturday, but Cumberbatch will turn his focus on this game on Wednesday night.
“We won’t think about that until Wednesday,” he said. “Normally I’m thinking ahead but I’ve deliberately not thought about the Dover game at all until after the Chatham game purely because whatever points we pick up that’s going to be one of the things I’ll use to fill the players’ confidence up but you can be rest assured that we’ll be ready for Dover.”
But Cumberbatch feels his side are equipped to play two games a week for the rest of the season. Yesterday’s game was their 21st league game of the season - the halfway stage.
“We’ve got quite a big squad, a squad of good players and as long as I can keep the all together, I think it’s a good springboard to start climbing up,” he said.
“Knowing we’ve still got quite a lot of games to go we know what we’ve got to do.
“Confidence is very, very high amongst the squad and the team spirit is superb. You would never think it’s a team at the foot of the table because the talk in the changing room is that we’re just going to climb and climb.”
Anthony Allman (ankle) and Luke Coleman (calf) picked up injuries against the Police.
Visit club websites:
Chatham Town v Ashford Town
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 30th January 2007
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Maidstone Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 6ES
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