Tonbridge Angels part company with Dolby - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

Reserve team management duo Julian Leigh and Simon Balsdon take charge of their trip to AFC Hornchurch at Bridge Avenue tomorrow night.

Leigh, now in his third season at the Betterview Longmead Stadium, as reserve team boss, admitted that he’s in a state of “shock” following the announcement at 7pm tonight, as he prepares for his first stint at Ryman Premier League management, on a caretaker role, whilst the club find Dolby’s successor.

“Obviously it’s a bit of a shock, because Tony’s been at the club for a long time,” Leigh said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk, within 45 minutes of being told about Dolby's and Rutherford's departure.

“He’s been with me for a few times with the youngsters so he’s given me a bit of input as well.

“I get on well with him as well, a smashing guy, and Mike (Rutherford), in fairness.”

The former Sevenoaks Town manager admitted he doesn’t known what to expect as he guides the club at AFC Hornchurch, a quality side, tomorrow night.

“At the moment I don’t know what’s in store if I’m honest,” he said.

“I haven’t spoken to the players yet. We have to do that tomorrow. We’ll get our heads together and see if we can get something out of the game.”

Leigh, who was told about the departure of Dolby and Rutherford at 7:15pm tonight, wants Angels’ players to show professionalism.

He said: “When you have been in reserve team football for three years, it’s a good jump for us, but we’ll give it our best shot.

“We’ll work hard in the job, I don’t know how long that will be.

“I want commitment, desire and I want a good team spirit. All the teams that I’ve been involved in, I want team spirit in the changing room and out on the pitch.”

Leigh admitted that he didn’t feel that he would be in this position - leading Tonbridge Angels at first-team level.

“You dream about it, but not in these circumstances, but we have to be professional about it.”

Chairman Mr Nick Sullivan is expected to express his feelings on Tuesday night.

Ramsgate boss Jim Ward has high hopes for new signing Laurence Ball, 23, following his capture from Dover Athletic.

The big 6 foot 3 tall central defender moves to Southwood Stadium as part of the deal that saw striker Shaun Welford return to Dover Athletic.

“Shaun’s out of contract in the summer, Dover made a very good bid for him and we just decided to let him go, simple as that,” Ward explained when speaking EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“I’ve got plenty of forwards at the club and he’s been part of the two squads that’s won the Kent League and Ryman League (Division One South titles) for me and he will be welcomed back at Southwood, but the timings right.”

Ward admitted that he’s been looking to bring reserve team defender Ball to Ramsgate for a while.

He said: “If he hadn’t been part of the deal, he wouldn’t have happened.

“I’ve had my eye for him for a while. He’s a big lad, six foot three, scores goals from set-pieces, a good central defender.

“He’s been waiting for his chance and now he’s got a chance at Ramsgate.”

Ramsgate go into Tuesday night’s home Ryman Premier League game against Hastings United after defeating giants Chelmsford City 2-0.

“Well, it is as well as we’ve played this season,” said Ward. “The Saturday before we played really well, got beat 3-2 to Horsham, despite having 24 attempts on goal.

“So we did play really well and carried it on this Saturday, won 2-0 against Chelmsford, a fair result, we were the better team to be fair.”

Ward added: “We’re top five of the league on merit.”

And on Hastings, Ward is expecting a right old battle, adding: “We went down there and beat them 1-0 in the FA Cup on a real warm day.

“We deserved to beat them (but) it will be tight but I am confident that we’ll get another result.

But he warned: “They’ve got some good players, they’re more than a kick and rush side, that’s for sure!”

Clive Walker wants his Ashford Town side to win their first home Ryman League Division One South game of the season, when Whitstable Town visit The Homelands on Tuesday night.

Walker’s men have not won on home soil after five attempts, saving their best performances on the road.

They won 3-1 at Leatherhead at the weekend and have bagged 13 points from their six away games so far this season.

But the former Dover Athletic boss will be without Kevin Lott (kidney) and Danny Lye (knee/calf) for the Kentish derby.

“Well, I hope we win, we’re due to win at home,” Walker said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk on the eve of the game.

“We played allright, played well, we were full of goals on Saturday.”

He added: “We’ve got an away record, I just can’t understand why we can’t win at home.”

Chatham Town boss Phil Miles hailed his squad for pulling off another fine result on Saturday - a 1-0 win at promotion chasing Kingstonian, writes Stephen McCartney.

Miles’ men have defeated giants Dover Athletic and the K’s on their travels so far this season - and have drawn at home to Tooting & Mitcham.

But the Faversham born boss wants his side to perform the same way when Sittingbourne visit Maidstone Road on Tuesday night.

Miles brought in Ross Finn, Danny Larkin and Sam Groombridge for the Kingsmeadow clash and was delighted that they seized their chance.

“It was difficult obviously after last weekend’s performance, which I wasn’t pleased about at all,” Miles said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“I wanted to play them all this week because they were on the bench when we were doing really well, we’re patient and they all deserved their chance and all played really well - it was a good squad performance!

Looking ahead to Tuesday night’s derby, Miles feels it’s about time that Chatham Town win the local bragging rights, against a Sittingbourne side that suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a totally different game tomorrow night,” he said.

“We haven’t had much success over Sittingbourne for four or five seasons, for whatever reason, I don’t know!

“So really on paper we’re the underdogs tomorrow night.

“Sittingbourne are still above us in the league, they’ve had a bit of an up and down season so far.

“I’m not taking it for granted but we should have beaten Witham Town after beating Dover the week. Tomorrow night will be another difficult game for us.

“But if we can play like we did against Kingstonian, I’m positive we can get something out of the game.”

The only absentee for the derby is Tom Davey, whose returned to University in Coventry this week.

Sittingbourne boss Steve Lovell expects local rivals Chatham Town to do all they can to end their miserable run against his side.

Lovell is expected to recall Ian Varley and Toby Ashmore for the Maidstone Road clash, but still has five players missing through injury.

Josh Willis (knee), Anthony Allman (ankle), Lee Hockey (foot), Kieran Marsh (ankle) and Paul Ainsworth are all out.

“The last four or five games I’ve had with them, I don’t think we’ve lost,” Lovell said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk. 

And he added: “That’s put the cat amongst the pigeons and put the voodoo on us!

But Lovell knows Chatham are more than capable of pulling off good results.

He explained: “They’ve had a couple of good results against the top teams. I watched them at Dover the other week and had a good result against Kingstonian at the weekend, so it will be a tough game.”

Lovell wants his players’ to be more clinical in front of goal, having gone 270 minutes without finding the back of the net.

Lovell wants to extend their impressive record over their local rivals to keep in the chasing pack, but revealed he’s going to make changes.

He said: We have to start creating a lot more and scoring goals.

“Tomorrow night I’m going to play a few of the boys who have been sitting on the bench for the last few weeks and see what they can do.”

Meanwhile, Dartford who make the very short trip through the tunnel to play Tilbury tomorrow night, have confirmed details of their first anniversary party at Princes Park.

All the fun for the Saturday, 10th November event, begins at 11:30am with face painting, balloon making and penalty shoot outs for all the family.

Britain’s strongest man, Terry Hollands will be making a guest appearance, signing autographs as well as showing off his skills.

The Dartford team, currently sitting in third place in the table, will also be available to sign autographs and Matthew Crane, an X-factor finalist, will be opening the game.

Waltham Abbey will provide the opposition and tickets for the game are now on sale from the club by telephoning 01322 29 99 90 - admission prices for kids is just £1.

A capacity crowd of 4,100 watched the first ever game at Princes Park on 11^th November 2006 - a thrilling 4-2 win over Horsham YMCA.

Fixtures: Tuesday 30^th October 2007

Ryman Premier League
AFC Hornchurch v Tonbridge Angels
Heybridge Swifts v Maidstone United
Ramsgate v Hastings United

Ryman League Division One North
Tilbury v Dartford

Ryman League Division One South
Ashford Town v Whitstable Town
Chatham Town v Sittingbourne

Kent League Cup Group A
Greenwich Borough v Sevenoaks Town
VCD Athletic v Herne Bay

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering the match between AFC Hornchurch and Tonbridge Angels at Bridge Avenue.