Miles targets ten points for safety - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Chatham Town manager Phil Miles launched a scathing attack on Gravesend based referee Mr Ian Fissenden following his side’s 2-1 defeat at Burgess Hill Town on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.

Chatham’s fifteenth league defeat of the season leaves them in a precarious position in the bottom four - just one point from the Ryman League Division One South drop zone having collected just two points out of a possible eighteen.

And Miles insists his side must collect ten points from their remaining ten games (five of them are Kent derbies) to avoid playing Kent League football in August.

Chatham’s next two games are both at Maidstone Road, against Whyteleafe and their Kent rivals, Cray Wanderers.

But Mr Fissenden’s performance at Leylands Park has kept Northfleet resident Miles fuming ever since Saturday afternoon.

“Ian Fissenden was shocking, absolutely shocking,” Miles said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk today.

“He cost us three goals and anyone who witnessed his performance it was shoddy all round on their part.

“Generally if they’re poor, I just say they’re poor but he made mistakes that cost us three goals and I’m not going to accept it.

“If we were mid-table and weren’t in the position we’re in, I can look at the referee’s performance and have a laugh about it.

“When we’re in the position that we’re in, we’re scrapping for every point and to be fair my players on Saturday got on with their jobs, created chances but it didn’t go for them.

“But I can’t let the officials’ performance go by not having a pop at them. Their decisions were so blatantly wrong.

“I don’t want to use the word cheating but I find it had to understand why the decisions were given.

But Miles’ problems are mounting as he goes into tomorrow night’s showdown with Whyteleafe, a side just six points above them in the table, with six regular first team players missing.

Darren Smith serves his one-match ban against the Surrey side following his red-card at Hastings United.

And Danny Larkin (hamstring), Tyran James (hamstring), Danny White (groin), Ross Finn (knee) and Drew Watkins (ankle) are all ruled out for the must win clash.

“We know the situation we’re in and we need to start notching a couple of wins, hopefully sooner the better would be nice,” said Miles.

“The performance from the lads on Saturday was fantastic. There wasn’t a lot more we could have done to try to win the game and for whatever reasons on the day it didn’t go for us.

“If we play like Saturday for the remainder of the season then I don’t see it being a problem because we’re playing ok.

“We’re not playing fantastically but we’re playing well enough to get points on the board.

“I’ve been fuming since Saturday afternoon. If my players were poor on the day I can accept that, but the only reason we didn’t win the game was the officials.

“I’m not making it up to make an excuse for the defeat but if it wasn’t for poor officials’ we would have won the game.”

Due to injuries, Miles has been forced to bring in players on loan as well as throw reserve team players into high pressure games.

But Miles is pleased with Bradley King, Sam Phillips, Craig Govey, Dave Botterill and Tyrone Walker.

“Those youngsters have come in from the reserves and got their chance and not doing no harm,” he said.

“It’s nice to give them a chance but it would be easier if we were in mid-table and more relaxed.

“It’s not doing them no harm for their futures but it’s not the ideal time to have all these players injured and chucking in the reserves.

“If we can stay positive and win a couple of games to take the heat of everybody we’ve showed enough in our performances to stay up but there’s lots of big games coming up.

Miles admitted any two of six sides can make the drop but Ashford Town, who welcome second placed side Hastings United to The Homelands tomorrow night, should survive.

“On paper I’ve put down how many points we should have and how many to survive,” said Miles.

“We’ve got ten games so another ten points will make us safe, depending on results below us. That should see us ok.

“Ashford are in a false position because they’ve got five games on us and a point behind.

“Walton Casuals, Corinthian Casuals, Godalming and Croydon Athletic have slipped down so out of those six, including us, there’s two out of that six that will go down.

“Hopefully we’ll push on and we won’t be in the bottom two and the way the season’s gone it could go down to the wire but we’ll cross that bridge if we get there.”

Kent rivals Cray Wanderers visit Maidstone Road next Saturday and Miles seeks revenge for their 3-2 defeat at Hayes Lane in October.

“I thought when we played them earlier in the season over the 90 minutes we deserved to win,” recalled Miles.

“We had a goal disallowed and they had a goal that looked offside.

“But there was a period for about 25 minutes when I thought we would get beat five or six nil because they started really well, went 2-0 up and played really good football.

“I feared for the worse but we battled back and scored just before half-time and that threw them a little bit and we played well second half but we lost.

“I know Jenko (Cray Wanderers’ manager Ian Jenkins) and they’ve got some good footballers in their side and on their day they’re a very good side.

“I’m expecting another tough game but as long as we apply ourselves in the right way we can pick up points.”

Miles tells his side to remain resolute during the business end of the season.

“The answer at the moment is not to get beat,” he said. “We’ve got two big home games coming up and the last couple of home games have been disappointing.

“But I hope the supporters can see we are trying our best and can see that the players are doing as much as they can to secure safety for next season.

“I’ve got plans for next season but obviously it’s hard to start the ball rolling and implement them because you don’t know where we’ll be next season.

“We’re concentrating so much on survival this year that all our plans have to be put on the back burner because we need to guarantee our safety first.”

Ryman League Division One South (bottom seven)

(Bottom two get relegated at the end of the 42-game campaign)

CHATHAM TOWN’S RUN-IN

March:

Tue 13 - HOME - Whyteleafe

Sat 17 - HOME - Cray Wanderers

Sat 24 - away - Sittingbourne

Wed 28 - away - Maidstone United

Sat 31 - away - Dover Athletic

April:

Sat 7 - HOME - Godalming Town

Mon 9 - away - Dartford

Sat 14 - HOME - Leatherhead

Sat 21 - away - Horsham YMCA

Sat 28 - HOME - Molesey

Visit Chatham Town’s website: www.chathamtownfc.net

Chatham Town v Whyteleafe
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 13^th March 2007
Kick Off 7:45
At Maidstone Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 6ES