Abbott has the defence to cause Staines a shock

Thursday 24th September 2009

SITTINGBOURNE boss Gary Abbott fancies his side’s chances of causing an FA Cup shock by sending Staines Town packing at Bourne Park on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.

Staines arrive at Bourne Park for this second qualifying round clash with an unbeaten away record and presently sit in eleventh place in the Blue Square South - two league’s above the cash-strapped Kent club.

“We’re going to go into it and obviously give it a go,” Abbott told www.kentishfootball.co.uk today.

“No-one said we’d win the Folkestone game but I know this is going to be a lot harder. There’s no pressure on us is there so we’ll try and keep it really tight as we can and obviously try and nick a goal or something like that.”

Abbott revealed his formation ahead of the game, but as Kent’s number one football website is backing Sittingbourne to reach the penultimate qualifying round, we will not disclose this as Staines Town’s management team may be doing their homework.

But Abbott said: “Hopefully we can get something out of the game and cause an upset. There’s no reason why we can’t!”

Sittingbourne go into the game sitting in 15th place in the Ryman League Division One South table, and Abbott says his defence have to be switched on against a good Staines side.

“I’m confident about my back four,” said Abbott. “We’re not letting goals in like we were last year. We’ve only let five goals in, so they will look at that as well and say we’re tight at the back, so I’m confident at the back now, it’s just obviously sorting out which way I’m going to go.

“We’re looking forward to it, there’s no pressure on us, we’ll just go out there and have a go and see where it takes us.”

The Sittingbourne boss hopes Staines arrive at Bourne Park in a complacent manner.

“They’ve got a big squad down there and they’re going to be quietly confident of coming down here and getting a result,” said Abbott.

“If they were watching us last week (at Corinthian-Casuals) they’d probably think they’ll come over and slaughter us so it’s probably good thinking we played so bad last Saturday and we managed to nick a 1-1 draw out of it.

“Hopefully they will come down over confident and hopefully we can catch them on a bad day and hopefully get a victory.”

This is Sittingbourne’s fourth FA Cup tie of the season, having scraped through Horley Town (at the second attempt) and Kent rivals Folkestone Invicta, a side that are currently leading the table.

“It’s nice to have a run in the FA Cup if you’re a player and it would be nice for me as a manager and it will be nice for the boys as well,” added Abbott.

“We’ve got a young side and I just hope Staines take us for granted and think they’re going to come and have an easy game and win it.

“The boys will be up for it. I know what they’re like, they will give them a game. If they think they just have to turn up and win it’s not going to happen. It would be nice to beat them, turn them over and cause an upset.”

Bradley Spice (back), Jon Neal (calf) and Joe Hurlock (pulled stomach muscle) are all on the treatment table at tonight’s training session.

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering this game.

Visit Sittingbourne’s website: www.sittingbournefc.co.uk

Sittingbourne v Staines Town

FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) Second Qualifying Round

Saturday 26th September 2009

Kick off 3:00pm

At Bourne Park, Central Park Complex, Eurolink, Church Road, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 3SB