We will be looking to take home our first league points of the 2017-18 season, says Holmesdale's Lee Roots

HOLMESDALE assistant manager Lee Roots says he wants to kick-start their season with victory down at Lydd Town tomorrow.

The Bromley based outfit were knocked out of The FA Cup at the first hurdle last weekend, after losing 3-1 at Loxwood.

“Last week was a great experience for all the players and staff with The FA Cup game being the first competitive game of the season,” said the former Chipstead (Kent) manager.

“Personally, I would have preferred to have had a league game or two before such a big fixture to allow teams to really get going before they met.

“We travelled away to play Loxwood, who are a very tidy side.  We scored two very good goals on the day both from Victor Sodiende, with one goal being disallowed for a controversial offside decision.

“That goal would have taken us to 2-2 in the game with 10 minutes to play. Instead, we found ourselves behind at 2-1 with five minutes left to play. We pushed for an equaliser and unfortunately we conceded the final goal in the 87^th minute.

“We know that our performance on the day against a higher league opposition will put us in good stead for this week’s league opener and for the season ahead.”

Holmesdale make their longest league trip of the season when they travel down to Lydd Town tomorrow.

“We have our full squad available to select from and we will be travelling with a very strong, competitive squad to Lydd,” said Roots.

“We’ve prepared really well and the lads have had a great training session this week and will be looking to take home our first league points of the 2017-18 season.”

Holmesdale boss Ian Varley, meanwhile, has phoned up Jay Saunders to bring in Elliot Capel from Vanarama National League side Maidstone United.

“Obviously disappointed to go out of The FA Cup at the first hurdle but we were beaten by a better team, no arguments about that,” said Varley, who is a FA skills coach.

“Unfortunately it took us a while to get going and although we got back in the game at 2-1, we were second best for large periods.”

Lydd Town completed the double over Holmesdale in Varley’s first season in charge at Oakley Road.

“Lydd away tomorrow will be a tough game. They beat us home and away last year so I know what a difficult game it will be,” added Varley.

“We just need to approach the game with the right attitude and be willing to compete, if we can do that then we will be fine.

“We’ve got a couple of players back who were unavailable last week, so they’ll be in contention to start and we’ve also managed to get Elliot Capel for a month from Maidstone United so I’m looking forward to getting him involved as he did all the pre-season with the Maidstone first team as well as getting minutes in some of their friendlies.”

Lydd Town suffered a humiliating 3-2 home defeat to perennial whipping boys Lewisham Borough last Saturday and boss Liam Smith is keen to bounce back against Holmesdale.

“Like ourselves they suffered a defeat on the opening day of the season,” said Lydd Town boss Liam Smith.

“Ian Varley has played at a good level and has very good contacts so I have no doubt they will bring a strong squad to our place.

“As for ourselves, of course, we were disappointed to lose last Saturday against Lewisham, but it does not mean we have become a bad side overnight or defines us individually or as a team and I’m still really excited about the squad we have this season.

“I honestly believe once we get the first points on the board we will be hard to stop.  I spoke to the squad at length before training on Wednesday evening and we had a blinder of a training session put on by the new head first team coach. It was a great reaction shown by each and every single player.

“Lastly, I would like to say thank you to everyone that came down last Saturday and will do again tomorrow.  My phone was non-stop on Saturday night from people I didn’t even know had my number speaking about the positives we have in our ranks.  It really picked me up when I was down in the dumps for obvious reasons after the game.

“If I had a message for everyone reading this and involved with the football club it would be to stay behind the team, let’s stick together as one and let’s bring home the three points tomorrow and kick start the season.”

Visit Lydd Town’s website:  www.lyddtownfc.co.uk

Lydd Town  v  Holmesdale
Southern Counties East Football League First Division
Saturday 12^th August 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at The Lindsey Field, Dengemarsh Road, Lydd, Kent TN29 9JH