We need to bounce back quickly, says Cray Valley boss Steve Chapman

CRAY VALLEY (Paper Mills) manager Steve Chapman insists his side will bounce back from their gut-wrenching FA Vase exit when they welcome Fisher to Badgers Sports Ground on Tuesday night.



The Eltham based side dominated Sussex County League side Lingfield in the First Qualifying Round clash on Saturday, but missed chances proved costly as they went down to a 2-1 defeat.

An own-goal from left-back Steve Springett gifted Lingfield a seventh minute lead, before former Bromley Academy striker, Chris McGinty volleyed home an equaliser early in the second half.

But Lingfield snatched victory and the £500 in prize money when Dayrl Coleman converted a 64^th minute penalty.

Chapman, 49, says he has space in his budget to bring in more experienced personnel.

“I’m learning about my team, the team is very, very young.  They need to start playing as a team and talking more.

“The captain (Jamie Miller) is 21, the average age of the team is probably 21-22 as well.

“We may bring in a couple of more experienced players but we want them to be the right players to help the youngsters out.”

Cray Valley lie in fourth-place in their second Kent Hurlimann Football League season, with three wins and a draw from their opening four league games.

They are eight points adrift of leaders’, the immaculate Erith Town, who have won their first six league games, scoring 20 goals and keeping six clean sheets in the process.

Cray Valley welcome Steve Firkins’ Fisher side to Badgers Sports Ground on Tuesday night.

Fisher have started poorly, with only one point from their first five games and only have Holmesdale below them in the table.

Chapman said: “We’ve said (to the players) we need to bounce back quickly. I think we will.

“I don’t know who’s in the side because of the injuries.  I’ve made sure none of the players were playing on Sunday because some of them do play on Sunday and if they did they won’t be featuring on Tuesday.  With two games in four days is too much at this level.”

Chapman is expected to be without Jack Carthy (thigh), Billy Parkinson (ankle), Casey Scotter (knee) and Matt Knuckey (ankle) again on Tuesday night, but central midfielder Richard Morgan is expected to return having missed the club’s first ever FA Vase tie because he attended a wedding.

“I think we missed Richard Morgan on Saturday,” admitted Chapman, who dropped his leading goalscorer Mo Conteh for Saturday’s game because he didn’t attend training last week.

“He’s (Morgan) been our best player. He’ll be straight back into the team. We’ll shake it up a bit.

“We need to have a look at the defence and see who we’re playing there. 

“I think Steve (Firkins) had trouble getting a settled team at the moment. They’re another team who we didn’t beat last year so we want to correct that and beat them on Tuesday night.”

Cray Valley then travel to Kent League newcomers Whyteleafe next Saturday.

Looking forward to the Church Road clash, Chapman wants to maintain his side’s unbeaten away record.

He said: “I’ve not seen them, not looked at them and not going to bother to look at them. We’ll take it as they come, but the way we’re playing in our league games I’m confident we’ll at least come away with a point.”

Meanwhile, with chairman Mac MacAnallen pumping in money to get the club’s facilities at the club’s impressive little ground up to scratch, Chapman has targeted promotion into the Ryman League.

Chapman said: “We’ve actually been approached by a couple of Ryman teams who want to groundshare with us, which is a bit of a compliment to us.

“This year is a little bit too soon for us really, I think, to go up to the Ryman, especially when you consider the step-up.

“When we stepped up in to this league we weren’t prepared.  If we do it, we’ll go for it, when we’ve got the players and the structure in place.”

A club statement added: “We are extremely fortunate to have a dedicated group of people who have worked very hard to bring things together both on and off the pitch and we look forward with confidence to this our second season competing in the Kent League.

“Over the close season we have worked hard to complete our ground improvements programme. The installation of floodlights and a new covered spectator stand as well as a new screen fence to the pitch area we believe gives us a ground that we can be justifiably proud of and can be used as a springboard for future success.”

Visit Cray Valley’s website: www.cray-valley.co.uk

Cray Valley (Paper Mills)  v  Fisher
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Tuesday 4^th September 2012
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Badgers Sports Ground, Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HT