No-one can catch Whitstable, conceeds McMahon - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Thamesmead Town boss Keith McMahon will have Tyrone Sterling and Tony Gallagher back in his squad for tomorrow’s visit of Deal Town, writes Stephen McCartney.

The pair missed last night’s 2-2 draw with local rivals Erith & Belvedere at Bayliss Avenue, a result that kept McMahon’s men in third place in the Kent League table and 12 points behind unbeaten leaders Whitstable Town.

“Whitstable are in a great position, so I’m not worried about Whitstable,” McMahon said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk last night.

“I’m not worried about anyone else. We just have to take each game as it goes.

“I’m looking for a bit of improvement from the side. A bit of battling but I thought we showed it again a little bit tonight.”

McMahon explained why he left Curtis Williams on the bench last night. Williams netted his 21^st goal of the season when his equaliser looped of Deres defender Paul Gross just 54 seconds after the visitors regained the lead in the 86^th minute.

“I thought we sacrificed a little bit of our football to steel up a little bit more and to do the basics,” he said.

Deal Town visit Bayliss Avenue tomorrow and McMahon has conceded the Kent League title to Marc Seager’s Whitstable side.

“There’s still games to go but at the end of the day Whitstable still keep winning and nobody’s going to catch them,” he said.

“I’m not worried about them. I’m more worried about my own team.”

A Thursday night crowd of just 87 turned up at Bayliss Avenue to watch the derby draw.

But McMahon asks more fans to watch his side in action, especially as they like to play free-flowing football and that they like to promote local talent into their first team.

He said: “We’ve played the best football I think the club’s played since I’ve been here.

“The reserves and loads of youth team players come into the reserves and first team.

“We’re a young side and we play some good stuff - we’re going in the right direction.

“If we finish runners-up, third, first, get to a cup final, it’s been an excellent year.

“We’re building again for next year and with the development of the ground that’s going to happen for the start of 2007-08, I think we’re going to be in a great position.”

Derek Hares’ Deal Town side make the long trip to the banks of the Thames having picked up a midweek point against Faversham Town, a side under new management in Paul Copley.

“Deal always give us a hard game,” said McMahon. “Another tight game, they’ve done well.

“Derek has got the manager of the month award and I know they drew in the week and it will be tough.”

Visit club websites:

www.thamesmeadtownfc.co.uk

www.dealtownfc.co.uk