Kentish Football 
A part of my heart will always belong at Hartsdown Park - O'Connell
O’Connell takes his side to Hertfordshire looking to extend their five game unbeaten run against a home side that are fighting for a play-off place.
Speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk this week, the new Gate boss admitted with a smile on his face, “The last ten minutes on Tuesday I think I aged twenty years. I think we deserved it in the end. Last 20 minutes Dartford put a lot of ball into our box without ever really hurting us – I think we defended heroically, and that’s all the way through the side. We caught them on the break and could really have had more than the one goal.”
Throughout his distinguished playing career at Hartsdown Park, O’Connell was always known as a good talker on the pitch and that is something that O’Connell the manger clearly demands from his sides too as he explained,
“Just look at the spine of my side – Jamie Turner, John Keister, Jay Saunders – all experienced but all great talkers.” But that wasn’t the case on day one as he continued, “When I first arrived it was the exact opposite – it was quiet on the pitch and even quieter in the dressing room and what got us through Tuesday was team spirit which also wasn’t anywhere to be seen.”
O’Connell as a player was never one to get carried away with results and after his first month or so in charge of Margate, O’Connell the manager seems to be exactly the same.
“It’s been a good start overall,” he said. “I was disappointed with the first two games, but I knew we had to get a couple of players in as we weren’t controlling the ball. We’ve done that and got a strong squad now, and I’d like to think that I could maybe still add a couple more to it, although I’d have to talk to the Chairman first though!” he added with a cheeky grin.
O’Connell cut his managerial teeth in Essex with Great Wakering Rovers, and when the Margate job became available, even O’Connell faced a tough decision.
He admitted, “It was hard for me to leave Wakering because they gave me my first chance in management and they are an absolutely lovely fantastic club.
“The chairman and directors there never put me under any pressure at all. And all I can do is talk highly of the club. But you know that I’ve always had a special bond with Margate and I’m just hoping that we can continue the good early form and I really do believe that the squad I’ve got now is more than capable of doing that and staying up.”
Coming into the Division so late in the season, O’Connell also is trying to come to terms with just how close (with the exception of Dartford ten points clear at the top of the table) the rest of the Ryman Premier is in context for this stage of the season.
O’Connell said: “I speak to the Aveley boss regularly and when I took over he said to me that they were in danger of getting dragged into the relegation battle as well. But now they’re knocking on the door of the play off places after a decent run. It’s the tightest league that I’ve ever seen.” And with the bulk of the midweek results going his way our way, the manager added, “Partly because of that, I wouldn’t let the boys have the night off Thursday as Tuesday’s win was just a stepping stone for us.
“We’ve got eight games left and we’ve got to win four or five of them to stay up!”
Looking ahead to the weekend’s trip to Boreham Wood, O’Connell’s approach was predictably forthright.
He said: “Saturdays going to be another tough game for us, but as we’ve already said, the League is so tight that anyone we play now is going to be a tight tough game and judging from the League results there’s more than likely going to be only one goal in it!
“Going to Princes and getting a result was fantastic, but we’ve got to take that into the weekend and look for as positive an outcome as possible.”
On the injury front the manager is facing potential midfield problems as he admitted, “Ty Benjamin got a knock on his toe Tuesday, Nick Barnes didn’t feature Tuesday with a dodgy hamstring so they’re the two that worry me the most as that could cause a hole in the middle of midfield and I don’t really want to change it at the back as Dan Stubbs, who’s normally plays there has been outstanding so far at left wing back in the last few games.”
We ended our conversation with a touch of reminiscing, as O’Connell remembered when he played at Hartsdown. “The dressing room used to be under the dug outs when I was there and the guy in the crowd who used to abused me every week calling me a donkey I think is still there too,” he admitted with a huge grin on his face.
“But part of my heart will always belong at Hartsdown Park. Let’s face it I won a load of trophies while I was there and when I looked back on it I wouldn’t have changed one thing.
“I travelled a lot of miles to play football but they gave me some of my best memories in the game, and the happiest time of my life in football – its got a massive place in my heart and always will have!”
Visit Margate’s website for commentary of this game: www.margate-fc.com
Boreham Wood v Margate
Ryman Premier League
Saturday 27th March 2010
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Meadow Park, Broughinge Road, Boreham Wood, WD6 5AL
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd