Someone called us the Chelsea of the Invicta League. We should’ve been challenging for the title and we are not for whatever reason and we are still a force to be reckoned with, says Lydd Town coach Liam Smith

LYDD TOWN coach Liam Smith says his side travel to Orpington tomorrow in high spirits.

 

The Lydders travel to Green Court Road sitting in sixth-place in the Pain & Glory Sports Kent Invicta League, but Smith feels the club should be higher in the table.

The club have yet confirmed who will take over next season as Dave Smith stands down at the end of the season and he hopes that his son Liam will take over the hot-seat.

“We travel to Orpington in high spirts and since the gaffer made it official about his retirement the lads have been putting that extra effort in,” said Liam Smith.

Lydd Town went down to a 1-0 defeat at Glebe last weekend, before thrashing Gravesham Borough 6-1 in midweek.

“We took Glebe all the way and really we were two evenly matched sides,” said Liam Smith.

“We went to Gravesham on Wednesday night and put in one of our best performances of the season.  We managed to keep the impressive Jordan Alexander and hit-man Dan Bradshaw for the most part quiet and very effective when we got the ball playing on the counter first half and defending very well second half and even the spectators were clapping at the end.

“There were also some sublime goals that were scored, one being a rocket from young central midfielder Craig Calvert.”

Smith explained why someone has told him that Lydd Town are like Chelsea of the Premier League.  The champions are struggling in tenth-place in the Premier League table and the Lydd Town coach feels his club are also underachieving this season.

He said: “Our aim for the rest of the season is difficult as we are all disappointed that we are not going to win it as we still feel we are one of the best sides in the division.

“Someone called us the Chelsea of the Invicta League before the Glebe game, take that how you want. We should’ve been challenging for the title and we are not for whatever reason and we are still a force to be reckoned with.

“We will still be working hard with our ever changing group and trying to finish as high as we can.

“We’ve got a lot of games in a short space of time but I relish that and look to take it as a positive rather than a negative.”

Hosts Orpington go into tomorrow’s game in the bottom five, but on the back of a 2-1 win at Phoenix Sports Reserves in midweek.

Manager Marc Bentz said: “Obviously really happy with Tuesday’s result, it’s been a while coming.

“The guys have put in some really good performances and had some very positive comments from opposition managers, but these comments are not the three points we have needed.

“Now we have them behind us we are hoping to press on and make us some of the ground we have lost.  Confidence remains high at the club and the players we have here certainly have the ability to be higher up in the league but a combination of bad luck and bad decisions is why we are where we are and not just from the players but also myself.

“The players have worked hard and trained hard each week to try and put right where we have gone wrong and I can only commend their attitude not to give in.

“We all feel like we have turned a corner now and we want a strong run in. We lost a lot of games in January due to waterlogged pitches so we have nothing but games from now until the end of the season so hopefully we can catch yup and try and get to as close as possible to tenth-place.

“We welcome Lydd tomorrow and the team has quite dramatically changed since we last played but the two or three that were there for the last meeting feel hard done by from the last result and want to make up for it tomorrow, whilst the new players in are looking forward to the competition of playing a top team.

“Unfortunately we have to make four changes from Tuesday’s game due to illness and injury but we also welcome back three players who were not available on Tuesday due to being away.

“I’m confident we can put in a performance and give them something to think about if we can set up correctly and start strongly like we have in our last few games. We certainly will be going for a win. I don’t believe in playing for anything else.”

Visit Orpington’s website: www.orpingtonfc.org.uk

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

Orpington  v  Lydd Town
Pain & Glory Sports Kent Invicta League
Saturday 9^th April 2016
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Green Court Road, Crockenhill, Swanley, Kent BR8 8HF