Soccer Shorts: Dartford suffer McClements' blow

Click here for tonight’s Soccer Shorts - news snippets from around the Garden of England, at all levels of the game.

PRE-SEASON preparation is well underway at Kent League side Tunbridge Wells and supporters can almost taste the start of the new campaign, which kick’s off in two weeks time.

Having got a mixed-bag of friendly matches under their belt, assistant manager Martin Larkin spoke to www.tunbridgewellsfc.co.uk about how things are progressing at Culverden Stadium.

Larkin reveals that the important stuff for pre-season is still ahead, broadly grouping the earlier batch of games to be essentially about getting “minutes in the legs.”

“Although at this stage I’m not too concerned about results in pre-season, I would be lying if I said the blood wasn’t pumping for the Crowborough game,” he said.

“We played really well and passed the ball superbly in the second half. They are a very good, powerful side, and we matched them all over the pitch. In the end, we all felt that we should have got more than the 1-1 score line.

“Before that, there were the early games with the Army and Bly Spartans which were purely arranged to have a look at the new players, and make some quick decisions regarding those and one or two other issues.”

Tunbridge Wells, who lost 5-2 at Ryman Premier League side Ramsgate tonight, travel to Ryman League Division One South side Folkestone Invicta on Tuesday night and then the club welcome a Tonbridge Angels side to Culverden Stadium for the Courier Cup on Saturday, 2^nd August - seven days before their Kent League campaign kick’s off.

“We have done a lot of fitness work, and although it’s not the most enjoyable part of pre-season at times, the guys have all mucked-in and dragged each other through,” explained Larkin.

“The spirit that we built at the back-end of last season has helped, and in some ways has even improved as we’ve taken the guys out of their comfort zones and really pushed them.

“This has all been possible, because the new board has secured a superb training facility at Paddock Wood.

“We can spend the time we have there working on team shape and phases of play, by getting the guys super-fit now and we don’t have to waste the time we get at the 3g pitch by running laps anymore!”

Among the fitness training and pre-season friendlies, though, a distinct plan of action is forming in the heads of Mike Robbins and Larkin.

“We probably have as many as eight spots filled in our heads, which leaves the door open for a lot of the guys to compete to start,” Larkin explained.

“We are blessed with some very good footballers who like to play the way we wish to play - that obviously really helps.

“You don’t need to tell Joe Fuller, for example, that we want the ball spread wide from midfield. He now naturally picks the ball up from the back four and knocks it about. Again, Barry Gardner, Brad Sandeman and Gary Clarke all have very strong footballing educations behind them - so they naturally do what would have been asked of them.

“Don’t misunderstand - that doesn’t mean they don’t need a word every now and again, but they do bring experience, which benefits the team as it rubs off on the guys with less experience.

“We will spend the rest of pre season working on our attacking plans, to ensure that we take full advantage of the quality we have in midfield,” Larkin reveals.

It wasn’t a coincidence that among the new signings some further attacking options have been brought in, and according to Larkin, they, and the other new signings have fitted into a spirited squad just fine.

He said: “We have tried to bring in local talent, so everyone knew Benji Agana when he turned up. Benji looks pretty intimidating, and I certainly wouldn’t want to mark him - but he is a lovely lad, and has really listened and worked hard to fit in here. The guys have made him feel welcome.

“Alex Rich has also settled in really well. He feels he still needs to get another 5% sharpness following his injury but that will come with the games.

“The lads from Tonbridge Angels have done well, although Danny Powell is still injured, and Terry Brock looks a very good player and will add competition down the left hand side too.”

Essentially, though, Robbins and Larkin have the luxury of working with a well-established base where the squad is concerned, and the only players that have left were those released by the club.
“90% of the guys re-signed for next season straight away. There were a couple of the lads who were approached by clubs in higher leagues - which, given the way this team functioned as a unit at the end of last season, was hardly surprising.

“That was fine - we were all adult about it, but once we outlined the plans we have here, and revealed who else we were looking to bring in, they concluded that this is a very big year for the club and that they wanted to be a part of it.”

With the immediate future running on track, Larkin has some observations from the joint training between the first and reserve teams during the summer months.

“The reserves have done well and have trained very hard during pre season. Jon Lord has stepped up a gear from last season, and is banging down the door for a chance to start for the first team this year, as has Ross Campbell.

“The rest of the squad are young and need to understand that they have a lot to learn about the Kent League. When the time is right we are committed to giving those that deserve a chance games with us - but it is important that they realise that means they will need to be over-performing week in, week out for Vince Shell's team.

“Vince has said himself that these players have plenty of time - many of them are still not 18 yet!

“And even further down the youth system, I took a two-hour session with the Under 15’s on Monday evening. They were a great bunch with one or two that really stood out. Again they listened and took everything on board – and it was nice to take a session where no one moaned,” Larkin joked.

“But seriously, there’s a closely linked infrastructure here now that is already showing signs of bearing fruit into the future for the club.”

WELLING UNITED, who welcome Maidstone United to Park View Road tomorrow, have completed the signing of central defender Matthew McEntegart.

McEntegart has had spells with Chippenham, Forest Green and Lewes. In other news, Tony Sinclair has signed a contract with the club whilst Joe Howe has been released.

EDDIE McCLEMENTS has told Dartford manager Tony Burman that due to work commitments he will be unavailable for selection for the next two months.

Burman, however, has reassured supporters of the Ryman Premier League club, that the central midfielder will stay signed as a registered player at the Princes Park club.

BUT MARGATE have bolstered their squad, with the signing of Wayne Wilson, from Blue Square South outfit Bromley.

Originally with Charlton Athletic’s academy, the Australian went on to play for Bishop’s Stortford, Stevenage Borough, Thurrock and Basingstoke Town.

The midfielder joins Margate, having made 28 appearances, scoring once, for Bromley last season.

DESPITE suffering their first defeat of their pre-season campaign, a 4-1 defeat at Thamesmead Town last night, Slade Green boss Matt Longhurst wasn’t overly concerned with the result.

“Obviously we wanted to win the game, but the bottom line is both myself and Terry Ratchford are gearing up for the first game of the season at Erith & Belvedere on the 9th August and things are going well,” said Longhurst.

Longhurst pointed at three individual errors (that led to three of the goals) for Green's downfall along with an injury to goalkeeper Sam Biggs.

With Dean James unavailable, goalkeeping coach Jimmy Simpson was forced to take over in what was his first game for 2 years.

Longhurst said: “We had four great chances to score during the second half but failed to take them, and were punished for the individual mistakes which saw us give the ball away.

“A side like Thamesmead aren’t going to let you get away with this.

“What pleased me though was the response of the players after the game despite being a friendly match they were still bitterly disappointed with the final result.

“This is exactly the attitude that both myself and Terry want from the team this season.

“To be fair though we were without three big players this evening, Lee Woodyard, Ben Payne and Dan Westerman, but at the same time take nothing away from Keith McMahon and his Thamesmead side, they are the reigning Kent League Champions and they have set the benchmark that we want to adhere to.”

HERNE BAY have completed the signing of former Crystal Palace and Welling United goalkeeper Stuart Clarke, 21, and Marc Jones, fighting off interest from a number of higher clubs pestering them to sign.

This is more great news for the Kent League club and manager Barry Morgan is like a dog with two tails.

“These signings give me just about the prefect squad for the coming season,” Morgan told www.hernebayfc.net.

“There will now be competition for every position on the pitch. Stuart is not available to play until the end of August or September but he will make a great addition to our squad".