Rams report back fit and raring to go

RAMSGATE boss Jim Ward was pleased with his players’ fitness when they reported back to pre-season training at the weekend, writes Stephen McCartney.

Ward, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk tonight, revealed that nineteen first team players attended, whilst five players were unavailable due to other commitments.

Lee Minshull, 22, Stuart King, 19, Ben Laslett, 24,and Shaun Alliston, 20, were either on holiday or working and Aaron Firth, 21, was nursing an ankle injury.

Fitness coach Mark Harrop put the squad through their paces and Ward said: “It was fantastic, lovely and warm and we made them work double hard - a cracking session.

“It’s pleasing what we’ve seen, all the new lads were there, we’ve got a squad of 24 at the moment.”

When asked whether he’ll start their Ryman Premier League campaign with a 24-man squad, Ward replied: “It’s generally what we start with, 24. You always get natural wastage and you also get all your injuries and suspensions.

“It’s a long time now to August 16^th but I was dead impressed with what I’ve seen on Saturday.”

The Rams welcome Blue Square South club Welling United to Southwood Stadium in their first pre-season friendly on Saturday, 19^th July.

And Ward is confident that his squad can meet expectations, especially after reaching the play-off’s last season, when they lost at rain drenched Staines Town in the semi-finals.

“The reason why it’s the biggest season for Ramsgate is the level of expectation’s been raised,” said Ward.

“Last year (we were) behind Gillingham, Ebbsfleet, Welling and Bromley, we were next in the pecking order.

“No-one (else) in Kent finished higher than us in Kent. Now we’ve shown a great level of consistency there to get into the play-off’s and on top of that we also won the Ryman League Cup.

“So you want to get better every year so we’ve got to progress on last year.”

Ward revealed that players’ spending their summer in pubs is a thing of the past.

“It’s a different world, the modern man,” he said. “We weighted all the players on the presentation night, the last Saturday of the season and there was only one of them that’s come back overweight.

“They all lost weight or stayed the same weight after an eight week break, that’s impressive.

“You listen to them, they all meet up down the gym (and) there’s players coming up to the ground and doing training on their own, lapping the pitch and all sorts.”

With the Football Association publishing the early qualifying draws of it’s Cup competitions tomorrow morning, Ward knows what he’s looking for in Cups this term.

He said: “Well, our aim is to progress than last year. We finished fifth, so the very least are the play-off’s.

“The chairman deserves a good FA Cup run, the draw is tomorrow.”

Requesting a draw against a lower League club, Ward added: “We haven’t had that luxury for the last two years. We always have someone at our level or higher than us.”

Visit www.thefa.com for the FA Cup, FA Trophy and FA Vase draws tomorrow morning, whilst the Ryman League fixtures are expected to be published on www.isthmian.co.uk on Tuesday, 15^th July.

Visit Ramsgate’s website: www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk