Kentish Football 
You just want to get them to the highest position that they could possibly get to, says Ray Turner
The 18-year-old, Rochester-based striker, has impressed during his performances for the first team since Turner gave him his chance after being unleashed in the club’s youth teams during the past two years’.
Turner, who was speaking after his side’s 3-2 home win over Hythe Town which kept his side in the top five in the Ryman League Division One South table, said: “He’s forced his way into the first team. I’ve got a connection with one of the scouts at Brentford, they were looking for under 18 players specifically and I put three forward from our group and Kieran was one of them, along with Liam Stone.
“You just want to get them to the highest position that they could possibly get to. If we can push them onto a League club, I know we’re losing out on them, but that’s what we should be doing at our level and trying to promote that.
“We’ve done that very well at this club with Jack Baldwin and other players and if there’s another one that goes into League football than that’s testament to what we’re trying to do.
“Jack showed some real qualities as soon as he came to the football club and we had a scout keeping an eye on him all season and as soon as Hartlepool took him they made a decision and took him straight away so they obviously saw those same qualities.
“With Kieran, he can be judged on scoring goals. It’s difficult as a forward player especially going in on a trial situation because you’ve got to want an opportunity to show what you can do.
“I think the more I can give him football at first team level here it goes without saying that people are going to talk about him and club’s are going to look at him.”
Turner praised his side for showing their character against Scott Porter’s Hythe Town side on New Years’ Day.
Aaron Lacy, scoring direct from a corner, and Dave Botterill, slotting home after visiting keeper Dean Ruddy had initially blocked his penalty kick, gave the Lilywhites a 2-0 lead at the break.
But Hythe clawed themselves back into the game when Jake Hobbs scored from a free-kick, before Dave Cook side-footed his nineteenth-goal of the season to level the score eleven minutes into the second half.
But former Folkestone Invicta midfield magician Darren Marsden won it for Faversham with a sublime lob over Ruddy to give Turner’s side’s the three points.
“I’m just pleased with the side that I’ve put together and the character their showing,” said Turner.
“I just think it just shows how far we’ve come in a year. We got well and truly beaten by Hythe in both occasions last year and we’ve just put ourselves in a great position so let’s hope we can take advantage of it and show some real ambition.”
Faversham Town face four more home games in January, starting with a visit from Neil Cugley’s Folkestone Invicta on Saturday.
Folkestone Invicta arrive at Salters Lane sitting in 12th-place in the Ryman League Division One South table with 27 points from 19 games, nine points adrift of The Lilywhites.
They received a morale booster on New Years’ Day after defeating Nicky Southall’s Whitstable Town side 2-1 at Cheriton Road.
Turner said: “We’ve got a lot of home games to catch up on so it’s very, very important that we pick up these points at home.
“At the moment it’s lopsided because we’ve played more games away. If we can turn our home form around to anything like our away form then we’re in with a shout at things in terms of staying where we want to be.”
Invicta boss Cugley, meanwhile, hopes to add to his squad ahead of the Kent derby.
“We’re talking to a couple of players who have fallen out with their clubs and who have experience of playing at our level,” Cugley told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.
“We’ve got some very difficult games coming up – Dulwich, then Maidstone twice and Leatherhead twice and really do need to increase our numbers.”
One player is described as a forward/midfielder and the other a holding midfielder/defender, both of whose ability to play in a number of positions would clearly be an asset.
Roland Edge (Achilles) could well miss out this weekend as he struggles to play two games a week at the moment while Liam Dickson (knee ligaments) is not expected to be fit for at least a fortnight.
But there is better news of New Year’s Day match winner Darren Smith.
Cugley is one of many looking forward to seeing the tussle between Smith and his former midfield team-mate Marsden, who left Cheriton Road immediately after a hard-earned 2-2 draw earlier in the season before teaming up with Turner at Salters Lane a couple of weeks later.
“They’re both good players and Smudger has benefited from having a bit more room to play since Marso went,” said Cugley.
“It should be a good little tussle between the pair of them.
“I spoke to Smudge yesterday and I think he will be ok, especially as we don’t have a midweek game next week.”
Reflecting on their win over Whitstable, Cugley said: “We were poor first half, but really deserved to win on our second half performance alone and we definitely didn’t deserve to lose at Hythe on Boxing Day.”
Hythe Town gained revenge for their humiliating 8-0 defeat to Folkestone Invicta last Boxing Day to claim the local bragging rights in a 2-1 win at Reachfields Stadium in front of a bumper crowd of 1,022 this time around.
Visit Faversham Town’s website: www.favershamtownfc.co.uk
Visit Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk
Faversham Town v Folkestone Invicta
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 5th January 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Salters Lane, Faversham, Kent ME13 8ND
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd