It's been an up and down season for the club in general, says Sutton Athletic boss Dan Kelly

SUTTON ATHLETIC manager Dan Kelly says the club are rebuilding following the loss of Ben Young to Glebe.

The Hextable based outfit are in the bottom four in the Southern Counties East Football League First Division table with 18 points from their 23 league games and they welcome Sporting Club Thamesmead to Lower Road tomorrow on a run of eight games without a win.

Lee Hill’s men are in 12^th place in the table with 30 points from 22 games and have suffered five defeats on the spin but they do have talisman striker Josh Patrick in their ranks and he has scored 31 goals this season.

“It’s a game I would like to get three points to be honest,” said Kelly, following his side went down to a 3-0 home defeat to Premier Division side Deal Town in the Kent Senior Trophy Third Round in midweek.

“We’ve not had the greatest of seasons as you know.  Youngie left and we tried to rebuild. It’s taking a long time to get a squad where it is now.  A few players have left and come back and now we’ve got a fairly settled squad.

“But we can now push on in the league and try to get a few more points.”

Crockenhill are rooted to the foot of the table having collected just three wins from their 25 league games and have lost their last 10 games.

Above them are Lewisham Borough, who have collected 14 points from their 21 games and Gravesham Borough have banked 16 points from their 24 league outings.

“We just want to get as many points as we possibly can.  I don’t think, touch wood, I can’t see any real danger at all of getting relegated, let’s put it that way,” added Kelly.

“It’s been a very up and down season for the club in general.  We’ve managed to get players in and we’re hoping the last 13 games to get as many points as possible to try to build again for next season.”

Young lasted 19 games at Glebe, who are now managed by Anwar Uddin, who has been in charge of the Chislehurst based club for 16 games, guiding them to 13th place in the Premier Division with 31 points from 23 games, 13 points adrift of leaders Sevenoaks Town.

Kelly said: “I’ve been here with Youngie.  I was his assistant for the last couple of years.  The different thing with players is we don’t pay. We’ve got a lot of young players out there and one of the things we’ve noticed is that experience definitely helps and that is where we’ve struggled.

“It’s been a great learning curve.  I love the club, a lot of us do. We don’t pay, it’s all a self-funded club, we do it for the love of the club and we will go on whatever.

“Youngie is back now, he left the club and came back and he’s playing for our reserves.”

Visit Sutton Athletic’s website:  www.pitchero.com/clubs/suttonathletic

Sutton Athletic v   Sporting Club Thamesmead
Southern Counties East Football League First Division
Saturday 3 February 2018
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Lower Road, Hextable, Kent BR8 7RZ