We let ourselves down in The FA Cup, admits Erith & Belvedere boss Martin Ford

ERITH & BELVEDERE co-manager Martin Ford says he is looking forward to taking charge of his first ever game in The FA Carlsberg Trophy on Saturday.


The Deres travel up to Dunstable Town to contest a Preliminary Round tie, the club’s first game in the competition since 2005 when they were knocked out in the preliminary round after losing 2-0 at home to Harlow Town.

Erith & Belvedere are currently sitting in fifteenth-place in the Ryman League Division One North table, having collected four wins and two draws from their 12 games.

Dunstable Town are in second-place in the Calor (Southern League) Division One Central having collected five wins and two draws from their nine games and are four points behind leaders Daventry Town.

“I think everyone at the club is looking forward to it,” said Ford.

“Everyone’s buoyant. We’re improving game by game.

“It’s a great competition. It’s a first for me as well. I’ve never been in The Trophy so we’re looking forward to it.  A tough game though.”

Ford says he has done his homework on highflying Dunstable Town ahead of the clash.

“I have spoken to some managers who have played them this year.  We know they’re very good at home. They’ve got a good record so we’re expecting it to be an extremely difficult tie but one if we’re on our game that we can do well in.”

Ford says his side have now adapted to life in the Ryman League after hitting a rocky patch.

Ford said: “I think we’re definitely starting to.  I had to bring in a complete new squad into the club at the start of the season.

“We’ve brought some players in that maybe wasn’t good enough but they got us up and running.  We’re strengthening the side week by week.  The phone is busy with players willing to join.

“I just feel we’ve got the balance of the squad right now. We’ve got some important players back who have been injured so the squad’s looking stronger and I’m very happy with it at the moment.

“I may need to add a striker to the squad and maybe a centre half as cover, which is something I’m trying to address at the moment.”

Ford says it’s important to win on Saturday so the club can scoop £2,500 in prize money from The Football Association and to set up a home tie against Barton Rovers or Peacehaven & Telscombe in the next round on 19 October.

“It would be mate because to be quite honest I feel we let ourselves down in the FA Cup,” admitted Ford, whose side crashed to a 5-0 home defeat to Chatham Town in the Preliminary Round.

“We didn’t play what I call a recognised goalkeeper against Chatham and we got punished so on that score if we can bring some money into the club, which is well known with all manager, committee and chairmen.  It’s much needed funds at this time of age so we’re looking forward to going down there to see if we can win a little bit of money for the club to help us through the season. That’s what it’s about.”

Ford added: “If we can get a result up at Dunstable, we’ve got a home game, which we’re looking to win. Everyone who comes to Park View Road, we try to make it hard for sides to win down there. 

“We’re a little bit up and down in our form at the moment. The average age is 21 and we’re learning every game.

“It’s a home game and if we can get through we can look forward to that.”

Dover Athletic ended Erith & Belvedere’s interest in the Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com on Tuesday night, with Chris Kinnear’s side winning 3-1 at Crabble. Mo Conteh notched his fifth-goal of the season in the Second Round tie against the Conference South club.

“Fantastic game for the lads,” Ford said of his club’s night out on the Kent coast.

“Fantastic to go to Dover – they’ve got a lovely set-up down there – We really did do well.  Everyone got a run out. Some of the lads came through with tremendous credit. 

“We were right in the game. We were 3-0 down and came back to 3-1. We had a couple of great chances at 3-1, but we gave Dover a game and that was the idea of the exercise.

“We earned the right to play there after beating Gillingham. A little bit of luck on the night, had we taken our chances, we might have given Dover a fright.

“They were a good side. We expected it to be the game like it was. We came out of it with a lot of credit.”

Visit Erith & Belvedere’s website:  www.erithbelvederefc.co.uk

Dunstable Town  v  Erith & Belvedere
The FA Carlsberg Trophy Preliminary Round
Saturday 5^th October 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Creasey Park, Creasy Park Drive, Dunstable, Bedfordshire LU6 1BB