McMahon: Play like that again and we'll get knocked out - EXCLUSIVE

Sunday 07th October 2007

Thamesmead Town boss Keith McMahon was fuming after his side grabbed a 2-2 draw at Tunbridge Wells in the FA Vase yesterday, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Mead, currently Kent League leaders, were grateful to Rikki Cable who scored his eighth goal of the season to force extra time in the first round clash at Culverden Stadium yesterday.

Thamesmead got off to a dream start, taking the lead through Curtis Williams’ sixth goal of the season after just four minutes and 13 seconds.

But battling Tunbridge Wells drew level through Ben Starkey after 25 minutes and deservedly took the lead after 57 minutes when Joe Fuller beat Chris Conneally.

And after Wells had striker Aaron Shade sent off after 85 minutes, Thamesmead created chances during extra-time, but had to settle for a replay.

But McMahon expects his side, that’s netted 40 goals in 13 games, to get through to the second round proper.

“No disrespect to Tunbridge Wells, we’re at home and our home record’s good, so we’ve got to be favourites to win the tie.” he said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“But if we show the same commitment we showed today, then we’ll go out, simple as that!

“I suppose everyone’s entitled to a bad day at the office and like I said, we haven’t dropped any points, it’s not a League game, we’re still in the Cup.

“So at the end of the day, once we’ve maybe calmed down and looked at the bigger picture, we’ll be a little bit happier.

“But we were due, not a little blip, but a poor performance but we didn’t lose so I suppose we’ve got to give the lads a lot of credit for that.”

McMahon will sit down ahead of Tuesday’s replay to see if he needs to make any changes, but central defender Lee Coburn could miss out having turned his ankle at Culverden Stadium and was replaced by Lee Loveridge ten minutes into the second half.

“It will be unwise to make decisions now,” McMahon said after yesterday’s match. “I’ll sit back and think about it.

“We’ve got enough quality to cope and get a result (on Tuesday night).

“It’s pointless pushing panic buttons now and making changes. A few people need a kick up the backside, which hopefully today’s performance will give us and we’ll come back on Tuesday and be fine.”

McMahon praised Martin Farnie’s Wells side, especially after their “in your face” mentality stopped the Mead from playing their usual free-flowing football.

“Let’s not take anything away from Tunbridge Wells today,” McMahon said. “They done a job on us, they played well, they battled. We couldn’t play any football.

“We tried little bits but we didn’t turn up today - but we’re still in it.

“Teams are going to raise their game against us. We are sitting in a good position in the League and we had some great results in the past, but again, we haven’t lost, we’re still unbeaten at this level (their only defeat came against Carshalton Athletic in the FA Cup).

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

Thamesmead Town v Tunbridge Wells
FA Carlsberg Vase First Round Replay
Tuesday 9^th October 2007
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ