Knight relishing his return to Dover - EXCLUSIVE

Sunday 19th August 2007

Goalkeeper Glen Knight is relishing his return to his former club, Dover Athletic, on Monday night, writes Stephen McCartney.

The 32-year-old returns to Dover for the very first time with his new club, Cray Wanderers, in the first Kentish derby of the new Ryman League Division One South season.

Dover Athletic romped to the top of the table following their 5-1 opening day win at Horsham YMCA, whilst Knight kept a clean sheet on his Wands debut - Ross Lover scoring the only goal of their comfortable win over Whyteleafe at Hayes Lane.

“I thought there was four or five of us who made our debuts yesterday, so to start off with a solid performance, and a clean sheet, is always nice,” he said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk .

And the Essex based goalkeeper is relishing the game tomorrow night.

He said: “I still speak to a couple of people involved with the club, (midfielder) John Keister and (secretary) Frank Clarke.

“Especially (Dover) having such a good result themselves, Monday night will be a big crowd.

“They’ve got a lot of players I played with last season, so it will be nice to see them again.”

But with well over 1,000 fans expected to flock through the turnstiles to see Andy Hessenthaler and his side in action on home soil in the league for the first time this season, Knight is expecting a mixed reception.

“You know what fans’ are like,” he said. “There will be some who would say hello and some would give me stick like previous years, when I played (for Welling United) in the Conference and Dr Martens Premier.”

But fans will be treated with two good footballing sides to grace the excellent playing surface at the immaculate stadium.

“Cray have always played good football over the years and Ian (Jenkins) and Joe (Francis) have instilled in us to make us more solid. They’ve brought in players to make us a lot more defensive.

“One of the things yesterday, although it was 1-0, it was a comfortable 1-0.

“Instead of scoring more goals, we stayed solid and compact. I thought we were always in control.”

And Knight feels the pressure is all on Dover Athletic tomorrow night.

He said: “Being their first (home) game of the season, there’s a lot of expectation on their young players, not only to win games, but to perform as well.

“So we’ll go there, all the pressure is on Dover, not on us, especially after winning 5-1 (at Horsham YMCA).

“They’re a big club and no matter what the result is, they’ll be there or there abouts at the end of the season, and hopefully, we will.”

Knight has settled in with his new club, who groundshare at Hayes Lane, Bromley.

“It’s a shame we haven’t had more friendlies to get used to each others play, but to be fair, we haven’t had time off,” he said.

“We’ve probably trained harder than most teams. There’s a good bunch of lads at Cray, before I signed I always noticed the team spirit.

“They’ve got on well and stuck together. All the new additions have got on well and we’re all pulling in the same direction.”

Aiming for his second successive clean sheet, Knight added: “We certainly don’t fear anyone in this league, we respect everyone, but we certainly don’t fear anybody.”

Big central defender, Ryan Royston, a summer signing from Ryman League Division One South champions, Maidstone United, is also relishing his second ever visit to the SeaFrance Crabble Stadium.

And he was delighted that Cray Wanderers got their campaign to a good start, with their 1-0 win over Whyteleafe.

“Three points is what you want at this stage of the season,” Royston said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“Just to get off to a winning start was what we wanted. The size of victory could have been better, we had quite a few chances and could have won by more.”

He added: “A clean sheet is nice, and to get three points.”

The 26-year-old central defender, excellent at winning aerial challenges at the back, enjoyed his first ever visit to Dover last season, helping Maidstone United to a 4-2 win in February.

Speaking about Dover, Royston said: “They are pretty much a new side from last year, (with) a lot of new players in.

“We had someone watch them yesterday and they played quite a lot of long balls, which surprised me as the players they’ve brought in are young and ball players from pro clubs - must have been the pitch down there.”

But he expects both sides will get the ball down and play on the excellent playing surface at the SeaFrance Crabble Stadium tomorrow night.

“I would have thought they’d look to play a lot more (at home), as would we, as we’ve got a lot of footballing players,” he warned.

“Players we’ve got aren’t huge, so we don’t play a lot of long balls.”

Reflecting his visit six months ago, Royston said: “That was the only time I’ve played there to be fair, but we had a good 4-2 win down there last year.

“It’s a nice pitch, a nice place to go - looking forward to it.”

But Royston believes Cray Wanderers can win the game to make it six points out of six.

“Every team wants to get off to a good start, both teams had three points yesterday and we’re hoping to pick up three points tomorrow to be top of the pile,” he said.

“It’s a big game for both teams to be honest. I think we will be aiming to be there or there abouts at the end of the season.”

“I know their chairman (Mr Jim Parmenter) came out saying they want promotion, but I think half the league’s chairmen are thinking the same thing.”

Royston said that he’s settled in well with his new club, following his switch from Maidstone United, where he helped them win the Kent League and Ryman One South titles in two successive seasons.

He added: "It's been like I've been there for years already. All the lads are easy to get on with, it's a nice club - an enjoyable club to play for."

Speaking on www.dafctv.co.uk, Dover Athletic's assistant manager, Darren Hare, wants his side to turn on the style in front of their own fans.

“Massive, massive game that is for us,” he said. “I think if ever Andy (Hessenthaler) and I are going to get an understanding of whether we’re capable of winning this division, it’s going to be on Monday night.

“So it’s nice to get the first game out of the way, nice to get three points under our belt, but we’re under no illusions that it isn’t going to be an easy league to win.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re right up for it mentally, physically, but especially mentally, Monday night, because that’s the difference.

“We’ve got the quality within the team, we’ve just got to make sure we’re on our mettle and we’ve showed the right desire and work ethic and play with a tempo that suits us at home.

“We’ll get it down and pass it obviously, but we need to be a bit more cut throat in the right areas on the field.”

Visit club websites:

www.doverathletic.com

www.dafctv.co.uk

www.craywands.co.uk

Dover Athletic v Cray Wanderers
Ryman League Division One South
Monday 20^th August 2007
Kick Off 7:45pm
At SeaFrance Crabble Stadium, Lewisham Road, River, Dover, Kent CT17 0JB

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