The league is tight and we need to win all of our games in January to have any chance of getting in with a chance of one of the promotion places, says AFC Croydon Athletic boss Kevin Rayner

AFC CROYDON ATHLETIC boss Kevin Rayner says he wants his side to claim the Croydon bragging rights on Saturday.

The Rams travel to Croydon sitting in eleventh-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with 28 points in the bag from 18 games, while hosts Croydon are in the top six with 33 points from 20 league outings.

“I hope that our derby game on Saturday is well attended at the athletics stadium and would expect a really tough game as Croydon are going well and have remained in the top six for most of the season,” said Rayner.

“Last season ended all squad with them winning at ours and us winning at theirs, although we finished well clear of them in the final league placings.

“We will need to win to get parity and will need a good finish to the season to climb above them.”

Rayner is keen to bounce back from their 2-1 home defeat to Beckenham Town, who are now in third-place in the table.

“We are looking forward to the Christmas derby with our local rivals and hopefully we can mirror last year’s result,” said Rayner.

“Our last game at home to Beckenham was disappointing to lose as we had got ourselves going well after a dismal October and absolutely battered the sides we needed to beat in Sheppey and Corinthian in November.

“However, we have a distinct lack of games at the moment, which doesn’t help us or any club at this level.

“We should have been well clear of Beckenham at half-time but didn’t take our chances and conceded late on.

“That defeat hurt as we had been building and getting back into things.”

Sevenoaks Town remain at the summit with 41 points from 16 games, followed by Crowborough Athletic and then Beckenham Town with 36 points from 18 games.

Rayner wants his side to crack on and pick up maximum points in their league games next month against Hollands & Blair, Bearsted and Whitstable Town to get their promotion bid back on track. 

“The league is tight and we need to win all of our games in January to have any chance of getting in with a chance of one of the promotion places,” added Rayner.

“We will continue to plug on and have a go at getting a good run of results going but it may be that the finances and tougher competition become a bit too much for this season.”

Visit AFC Croydon Athletic’s website:  www.pitchero.com/clubs/afccroydonathletic/

Croydon  v  AFC Croydon Athletic
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 30 December 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Croydon Sports Arena, Albert Road, South Norwood, London SE25 4QL